Semper Fi
by ChrisAngelo
Summary: Intent on capturing all of the Rangers, an old evil has returned and Jason and Kim must face their own nightmares as they race to protect the planet one last time…
1. Last One

_**S E M P E R F I**_

_Disclaimer_: Power Rangers does not belong to me, the use of the characters, and original ideas all belong to Saban and there respective partners. The plot for this story and the sub stories do belong to me however.

_A/N_: I am so sorry to all my previous readers that I have not updated my stories. I had graduation and that took up most of the last of April/May, preparations and everything. "Semper Fi" is not a military story, it means Always Faithful, which I'm sure you know. This takes Power Rangers and takes it very dark.. but that is ALL I will say. No spoilers at all. This fic was co-developed, co-planned, and co-written with me by Jade-Max, she is my amazing new Beta and voice in my head. Her brilliance brought this great plot into hopefully what will be an epic story! As always, please review.

_Special Thanks_: Jade-Max

_Summary_: Intent on capturing all of the Rangers, an old evil has returned and Jason and Kim must face their own nightmares as they race to protect the planet one last time…

_Chapter One_: Last One

_Written By_: Chrisangelo and Jade-Max

* * *

"We have to warn them!"

"We can't risk it, if we expose them..."

"They already know who they are."

"But not where they are..."

"It's only a matter of time. Isn't it better to give them a fighting chance?" Silence greeted his query and he doggedly continued. "Anything is better than what we encountered, ANYTHING. They're after us again too, and if nothing else, we can find-"

"No!!" She snapped harshly as she brought her uncomfortable posed arms up to her face as she blocked it from his gaze.

"He's the longest standing Ranger-"

"I said no! He couldn't stand up to them before, he couldn't.." Tears began to fill her already swollen eyes as the realization of the situation began to settle in.

"It won't happen again. It's not the same..."

She lifted her head as she moved her arms back into the same uncomfortable position she was previously in as she looked at him. "Isn't it?"

"Look, what happened in the past is done and over with, can you honestly live with yourself knowing you could have saved them and didn't? Don't you think that's a little selfish?"

"Selfish? You're calling ME selfish? I went through seeing it happen once and it nearly killed me - I can't do it again!"

"You're assuming that things will be the same-"

"Wouldn't it? He's not even the same man as he was when I watched him-" Choking on the words, she fought the sick feeling they brought. She couldn't do it again! Turning to face him, she glared. "If you can't understand why I won't go through with it, then you're wasting your time here.

"It's not-"

She was on her feet and at the apartment door in moments, swinging it open as she extended her arm and pointed to the hallway. "Just get out."

"Come on now..."

"No, NOW!"

He shook his head as he grabbed his black leather jacket and draped it over his right shoulder and walked past her only to stop in the doorway. "I'm a phone call away." He proceeded out the door only to hear it slam.

* * *

They fought like the siblings they should have been and it tore him up inside no less despite the fact there was no blood relation. Kimberly Hart, former Pink Ranger, could aggravate him like no one else – and could cheer him up like no one else. As he stormed out of the apartment complex, frustrated with her beyond no end, Jason Lee Scott, former Red Ranger, knew from experience the anger would pass quickly. It always did. Despite the increasingly explosive nature of their arguments, and their almost identical stubborn personalities, they always managed to come out of it without lasting harm to their relationship.

Family doesn't hold grudges.

Jason reached into his leather jacket pocket and pulled out his cellphone as he dialed the phone number that hopefully would make this whole situation simmer down from what seemed like an over boiling pan of water.

"Hello?"

"Hey bro, I'm so glad you answered..."

"Thank you for calling Dr. Tommy Oliver's uhh.. cellphone number, please leave a -brief- message."

"Short? Hell! You're in danger – get out of Reefside and call me when you get this."

Jason shut his phone as he rubbed his tired eyes. He proceeded to reach into his pocket as he pulled out a ruffled up paper that seemed fairly old considering the hundred creases it contained. "I think that's just about everyone...just them..." He said circling a group of names: Tommy Oliver, Kira Ford, Conner McKnight, Ethan James, Trent Mercer.

They were the last rangers left in the universe that Jason knew of, that he still had to contact and warn them about the biggest threat that any of the rangers had ever faced. Bigger than Rita, bigger than Ivan Ooze – bigger than Mezagog. It was a threat so horrific to contemplate, a fate worse than death, he blocked it from his memory despite having been exposed – and escaped.

The midnight wind blew through Jason's dark brown hair as he sighed deeply. He looked at the cracks in the brick sidewalk as he looked down at the list. "Five..." He let out a frustrating groan as he pictured how he would tell them. "Normally I have a pretty, stubborn, and keen side-kick here to switch around the ways of telling them! Kim...we both went through it...what gives you the right to escape our fate?"

His attention quickly switched to his vibrating and blinking phone as the name that registered on the outside of the red razor cellphone quickly brought a smile to his face. "Figures, about time."

* * *

Closing the door behind Jason, Kimberly's gaze traveled over the now empty room as another tear shook its way from her eye, down her face. Running shaky hands through her hair, she lightly bit at her bottom lip aware that, other than her tears, face was completely drained of all emotions.

Kimberly walked throughout the apartment until she found her way into the kitchen. "I need sleep." She mumbled and reached into a lower drawer and pulled out a prescription medication bottle.

_Take two at approximately 7 pm._

She read over the instructions and glanced over at the digital clock on the microwave.

_11:09 pm_

Staring back at the prescription bottle, Kimberly lightly groaned and drifted her vision up towards the cupboard. "Mom always thought of warm milk for an alternate remedy..." She reached up to grab one of the smaller, delicate glasses as she was only tall enough to make it tip forward into her grasp.

The glass tipped forward, but glided the wrong way against Kimberly's fingertips and tipped far to much to the left as it fell out of her reach and crashed landed against the tile floor, landing in between her feet.

The former crane certainly lost her way as the sound and feeling of the shattered pieces caused Kimberly to jump with fear and shock as she crumbled to the floor beneath her.

Pulling her knees up against her chest, Kimberly rested her head down against her arms. "Why did this have to happen..why did any of it have to happen..is this my punishment?"

She slowly lifted her head and stared at the glass. Kimberly stretched one of her arms out as she moved it along the tile until she picked up one of the larger shards.

The piece of glass reflected Kimberly's image back at her as it revealed the true state she was in. Her eyes slammed shut as she grabbed her head and began to scream, but nothing escaped. She felt the breeze that was entering through one of the windows near the kitchen and it picked up a yellow and black ribbon that followed through the silent wind and landed gently against Kimberly's feet.

The shock of seeing the ribbon brought more pain to the emotional wreck that was Kimberly. Tears formed in her eyes as she found her herself slowly standing up and making her way over to the sofa. Kim slowly succumbed to the comfort of the soft cushion as her tears streamed down from her doe eyes. A sniffle escaped her nose and she covered her face with her hands as she began another breakdown.

"Of all people why do we have to tell him.. they won't find him. They'll never know where he is... Jason you know I can't go through that.. not again." She said between the tearful hiccups she was experiencing. She reached for her phone and dialed the one number that existed inside her phone book. Over the years, Kim had cut off all ties with everyone except Jason. "Please pick up..."

* * *

"...I thought you'd never call."

"I'm sorry Jason.. please come back. I..I know I can't get through this without you and we have to tell them.. but I can't do this without you.. I can't do this alone." She managed to mumble out through her cries. Once again she felt the overturn of the world coming down to crash on her shoulders.

A knock came on the apartment door as Jason stood outside. "Well let me in already, sis!" His gentle tease was affectionate and understanding – accepting. It was also demonstrative of their relationship and the acknowledgment that they were more like siblings than friends or lovers – more like family.

Kimberly wiped her tears and stumbled to the door as she unlocked a deadbolt, a chain, and then three other locks as she opened the door slowly and shoved it open once she saw Jason. "I'm sorry.." She tipped her head as she finished wiping her tears.

Jason stepped in through the door to embrace Kim as he shook his head. "I know we've been through a lot, and I know how much you went through with Tommy.. and -everything-, but we have to warn him. We have to Kim."

"I know..but I'm scared, Jase.."

"I'm scared too. But we have to pull through this, and we can only do that together."

Moving a few steps back, while still holding onto Jason's arms, Kimberly looked up at him trembling. "I just feel like I'm going down an empty road with millions of miles separating me from city limits. I feel like we are never going to get over what happened.. or what is going to happen."

Jason moved his hand to her cheek and wiped her soft tears away as he smiled down at her. "We'll make it through. I'll drive you to that city if I have to. But before we can get there.. we have to move along our own fate. You know destiny shines the way, but sometimes you have to steer its course."

"Okay..let's do this."

Jason half smiled and nodded. "Let's finish this."

Kimberly crossed her arms and looked up at him once again. "Is it okay if I change first...?"

Eyes widened and a mouth nearly dropped as Jason was blown away. "Sure, Kim..." He warmly smiled and closed his eyes. /I haven't heard the real Kim in a long time.../

By the time Kim had finished, Jason realized it was after midnight which meant they were pushed for time. He decided the best plan for action would be to take his motorcycle. It would provide easier access for driving though forests, and very very fast.

Kimberly originally had her hair pinned up but due to having to wear a helmet, she was forced to put her wavy brunette hair down which cut off around her upper back and shoulders. She was dressed in a white corset and a pair of dark blue jeans, and a black trench coat that she wore for the cold nights breeze. Other than that she was wearing a pair of sneakers of course.

Jason was simply in his dark blue jeans, red shirt, and a black leather jacket.

They both of course were now wearing helmets as they made their way to Reefside.

* * *

Jason's motorcycle slid to a stop as they came to their fated destination in the no-where outskirts of Reefside. The house was heavily surrounded by the forest and outer terrain. The city lights were barely visible through all the trees and miles that separated the two locations.

Kimberly swung her leg over the motorcycle end as she stood up and looked around. She removed her helmet and shook her hair as she tried her best to remove her helmet hair.

Jason stood up as well and tossed his helmet under his arm as he looked at the unlit house. Tommy's jeep was no where to be found and it looked as if the house was empty. The moonlight was enough however to provide some source of light for the area. "Damn, he's not here..."

"What should we do?" Kimberly brought her arms up together by her chest as the cold breeze brought goosebumps to her skin.

"This."

Jason walked up the few stairs and across the outer house deck and slowly approached the door.

"Jason?!" Kimberly whispered as she slowly walked up the stairs trailing behind him.

"Should we really be doing this? If he's not home we should wait.."

"Wait to be found, Kim?"

"Okay.. well just be quiet." She said as she grabbed onto his arm and watched from behind them.

Like clockwork, Jason propped the door open as he entered with Kim.

"Okay, let's go!" Jason whispered loudly as they both moved through the entrance and turned on the lights. The opening room was obviously the living room, detailed with a leather black couch, table, and entertainment center. It also had a fireplace in the corner.. and the ashes were somewhat still lit.

"Someone's been here."

Kim pulled her hair back to gather on her right shoulder as she squatted down by Jason to see. "Do you think Tommy has a contact list so we can warn the others?"

"I'm sure he does, Kim. I'm going to go check around outside. Try to find the contact list and then make the calls. I shouldn't be too long." Jason took off his jacket and laid it on the couch and proceeded out the door, shutting it behind him.

Kim let out a deep breath as she nervously moved her hands together. "OK...let's see...if I were Tommy, where would I put...something I wouldn't -lose-"

Kimberly walked over to the desk that the cordless phone was placed on and opened the first drawer. "Looks like someone's changed." She grabbed the book and quickly placed it on the desk as she opened it and scanning through the contacts. "Ford..Ford..Kira..Ford..ah!" She was sure out of all the teenage rangers, that Kira, being the only girl, would know where everyone else was. Maybe she would even know where Tommy was.

She picked up the phone and began dialing the number. "5...7...5...3...4...2...8." The phone began pulsing as Kim turned around to try and watch Jason outside.

"Hey, Dr. O! I wasn't expecting you to call this late?"

Kimberly was caught off guard and her cheeks turned a light shade of red as she stood up straight. "No.." She cleared her throat as she moved her hand around it. "This isn't Dr. Oliver. My name is Kimberly Hart..." She was trying to remember how she approached the other rangers. They mostly met in person, this was one of the occasions where it was through a phone call. "I am...I was...one of the original power rangers that was on Tommy...I mean Dr. Oliver's team."

On the other end of the phone line, Kira's eyes widened with shock and a small bit of excitement. It wasn't everyday that you spoke with one of the 'legends'. "From the video tape!" She yelled into the phone.

"Video tape?"

"Yes, Dr. Oliver profiled his years as a ranger and showed us. You were the Pink Ranger, right?"

"Well...yes...but look, that isn't important right now. Every former and current power ranger is in danger, serious danger. I can't explain it right now, but I need you to contact the other members of your team and leave Reefside, tonight."

"What are you talking about, Mezagog is dead. We don't even have our powers anymore."

"That doesn't matter!"

"Oh..."

"I'm sorry for being so harsh and forward but this is serious. I also need you, if you can, to tell me when the last time was that you saw Dr. Oliver."

"It was about a week ago...he came by to check up on all of us at Hayley's Cyber Space."

"Thank you. Contact your friends, leave Reefside. There is a..." Kimberly finished giving Kira the information on where to go, and how to get there, and placed the phone down.

"Would he really be at a cyber-cafe this late? It's...after...midnight." Her eyes widened and she quickly turned back around to see if she could spot Jason. When she couldn't, she ran for the door.

* * *

"Hello foolish human!" Goldar cackled as he appeared in flames and lunged forward at Jason. "I thought I told you the last time to stay out of my way!"

Caught, Jason struggled against Goldar's hold, struggling to break free of the tight grip. "I'll never let you get to him, Goldar!" Jason's was accompanied by the thrust of his leg to push Goldar back. The beasts' arms fell away and Jason turned, finding his footing before he flipped back and away. Backing away cautiously, he settled into a defensive stance, acutely aware that he had no powers to draw on - and little hope beyond a good defense of keeping the monster away.

"I let you escape last time, but you'll never escape the likes of Lord Zedd!! You can always run, but you can never hide, Red Ranger!"

"I've told you before, monkey boy, and I'll tell you again. You mess with one Power Ranger, you mess with all of us!" For all his bravado, Jason knew if he didn't find a way to get past Goldar and back to the house, he was in for a rough ride. Without Kim's help, no matter his training, Goldar had an edge on him. "I'd back off if I was you."

"Funny, I don't see any Power Rangers here." A horrible laugh escaped from Goldar's mouth as he pointed his sword at Jason. "Maybe it's you who should surrender and save yourself the trouble."

"And give you Tommy? I don't think so."

"It's your funeral. Ahhh!" Goldar charged, swiping at Jason with his sword as he did.

Jason back flipped out of the way, landing and finding his balance in a split second. He ducked as Goldar's sword made to chop his head off and lashed out with one foot to catch him in the side. Spinning away, and going down to the ground, Jason took Goldar's legs out from under him with a sweep kick.

Goldar hit the ground with a roar as Jason darted to the side and around, heading back towards Tommy's house. He had to get to Kim!

"Going somewhere so soon?"

Jason rolled with the impact as Goldar slammed into his back, driving him to the ground and rendering him unable to throw off the golden monstrosity. Goldar's sword came to rest across the back of his neck and Jason froze, knowing he was caught.

"If Lord Zedd didn't want you so badly, Red Ranger, I'd take your head for a trophy."

"Then you'd better keep it where it is," Jason returned with a grunt. Goldar's weight was slowly smothering him into the ground. "And while you're at it, lose a few pounds!"

"Heh heh heh," Goldar eased back, keeping the sword tip at the base of Jason's throat. "Wouldn't want to kill you before Zedd gets the chance."

Jason closed his eyes for half a second, gathering both his strength and his courage, before rolling violently to the side, the tip of the sword biting into his neck and drawing blood. He didn't pause as Goldar pursued him, scrambling to his feet.

"_Kim!_"

"Kimmy can't help you, Red Ranger - she's too scared to come out and play."

Jason dodged to the side, slapping one hand across the back of his neck as the warm liquid began to slide under the collar of his shirt. The slice was clean - but deeper than he'd anticipated. He needed help, and he needed it fast. "_Kim!_"

A blow from the side sent him sprawling, but he didn't stay down. He scrambled for purchase on the wash that was Tommy's driveway, leaving a red hand print on the gravel as he turned to face Goldar and side-stepped a swing from his sword.

"I thought you'd be done with me by now - getting old, Goldy?"

"I'll live longer than you will puny human."

Goldar stepped between Jason and the house, blocking his way to Kim. He had to warn her, to get her help. If Goldar was here, Lord Zedd wouldn't be far behind and both of them knew what that meant. Trouble with a capital T, not to mention the impact seeing Zedd again would have on Kim. It was not an encounter he intended to put her through.

"We'll see about that, Goldar. Zi-ya!"

Jumping at the golden monster and screaming for all he was worth, Jason planted his foot into the armored chest with as much force as he could. Goldar, instead of trying to impale him, dropped his sword and caught Jason's foot, going on his back and then rolling. Jason was caught, unable to pull his leg free, and Goldar slammed him into the ground forcefully enough to make his teeth ache.

"Heh heh heh, not so tough now are you - argh!" Goldar suddenly threw up his arms as brilliant light blinded him from the direction of the driveway entrance. The sound of a car's tires as they slid along the gravel was clearly audible as the light from its headlights blinded their vision.

A black shape appeared out of the nothingness, barreling into Goldar and throwing him off Jason. "_Don't touch him_!"

Kimberly's half-crazed cry echoed through the area as she sent Goldar sprawling, landing just to the side. Quick as a cat, Kim was back on her feet and slamming her foot into Goldar's face, kicking him for all she was worth, her actions more infuriated than controlled.

Jason forced himself to his hands and knees, feeling the impact of hitting the ground to his bones, but unwilling to let Kim deal with Goldar alone. "Kim!"

"Take that, you golden bastard. Pervert! Voyeur! You winged freak!" Kimberly's insults were accompanied by kicks and Goldar was forced to lift his hands to protect his head under the onslaught.

Behind the wheel of the black Jeep, Tommy Oliver stared at the sight before him, completely floored. Kimberly Hart and Jason Lee Scott were sitting in his driveway fighting with _Goldar_ or all people. Jason had obviously been bested, but Kimberly... Kimberly was acting like a mad woman. Her screams were almost intelligible, made up mostly of incoherent noises and shrieks he hadn't known she could make.

Goldar rolled away from Kimberly, grabbing for his sword, and Tommy snapped into action. Grabbing the frame of his Jeep, he pulled himself into the seat and leapt onto the hood. "There are two things I don't like Goldar."

Goldar stopped, surprised by his voice - just as he'd hoped. Tommy didn't wait for Goldar to respond. "People picking on my friends and bad guys who don't know when to die – Zi-yah!"

Goldar stumbled backwards as Tommy's flying kick landed squarely in his chest, throwing him backwards. Jason regained his feet as Tommy landed, using the Jeep for support. Kimberly was already moving towards him, preparing to attack him again, her eyes holding a wild look that had never been present before - and Goldar knew it was time to retreat.

"This isn't over Rangers. Lord Zedd will have you - _all of you _- again!"

As Goldar disappeared, Tommy relaxed his stance his gaze riveted on Kimberly - he hadn't seen her in ten years - and struggled to find the words to ask what they were doing. Kimberly turned, saw him and Tommy lunged forward as her eyes suddenly rolled back in her head, dropping away in a dead faint.


	2. A Dash of Clarity

**_S E M P E R F I_**

_Disclaimer_: Power Rangers does not belong to me, the use of the characters, and original ideas all belong to Saban and there respective partners. The plot for this story and the sub stories do belong to me however.

_A/N_: Thanks for all the reviews! Keep them coming! -smile-

_Special Thanks_: Jade-Max

_Summary_: Intent on capturing all of the Rangers, an old evil has returned and Jason and Kim must face their own nightmares as they race to protect the plant one last time…

_Chapter Two_: A Dash of Clarity

_Written By_: Chrisangelo and Jade-Max

* * *

Panic struck as Kimberly's eyes rolled back in her head and Tommy didn't think as much as reacted. Old instincts kicked in before he could make a rational decision and she was in his arms barely moments later.

The smell of her was the same, he realized with a start as he pulled her tight against his chest unthinkingly. The feel of her was the same - as if she'd never left his protection; as if she'd never abandoned him. Using the skills ten years of separation had taught him, he buried the feelings deep - back into the past where they belonged - and focused instead on the reality of the situation.

Pain in his knee made itself known and he suddenly realized just how close he'd come to letting her hit the ground - he was down on one knee, the backs of his hands scraped from brushing against gravel. Yet the physical pain was nothing compared to what he'd seen in her gaze.

Terror.

Hope.

Despair.

The Kimberly he remembered had always been open when looking at him, a source of joy and light, but what he'd seen moments before her collapse was something he'd never thought to see in her – ever.

Fear.

"I've got you," the words passed his lips unconsciously - despite the fact he knew she couldn't hear him - as he rose to his feet.

Jason - still on the ground, exhaled a sigh of relief as Tommy caught Kimberly. He'd recognized the signs of her imminent collapse but hadn't been able to intervene. Tommy, thankfully, had always been reliable when it came to Kimberly's safety; ten years hadn't changed it. Muffling a groan, he rose to his feet with a wince.

Now came the tough part.

The former white ranger turned his way, cradling Kimberly in his arms, and Jason knew immediately that she would kill him later. Not for letting Tommy hold her - but for not offering to carry her himself. Tommy nodded to the cabin upon seeing that Jason was on his feet and relatively unharmed. He made no move to relinquish Kimberly - in fact looked downright stoic, almost pained, with her in his arms despite it.

Tommy's tone was tense as he moved towards the cabin and then stopped. "Are you coming?"

Yup.

Kim was going to kill him.

Jason grimaced and followed Tommy inside.

Laying Kimberly gently down on the couch once they were inside, Tommy stared at her for a long minute, fighting the need to remain where he was and forced himself to turn around and face his best friend. "Need to explain anything, Jase?"

Jason looked at Kimberly and closed his eyes, instantly picturing what it would be like when she discovered that he'd confided in Tommy. He couldn't see Kim go through that much pain - not again; not like before. But then there was the pained confusion that Tommy couldn't completely mask. He couldn't leave him in the dark, but he wouldn't tell Tommy everything.

It was not his place.

"Zedd is back." Jason finally mustered out as he looked up at Tommy.

"Well clearly." Tommy's tone was wry despite the situation. "But how is it possible?"

"It's not the Lord Zedd we faced nearly a decade ago. It's not even the Zedd from our world."

Whatever he'd been expecting, it hadn't been that. Tommy half turned to look down on the unconscious Kimberly well remembering their struggles against Lord Zedd. "Go on..." Words would not come as he battled the memories - not to mention what his imagination was turning out as he considered the damage an alternate dimension Lord Zedd could do.

"Remember when Kim left to compete in the Pan Globals?"

"How could I forget?"

"Well that was around the time I came back from the Peace Conference. I decided to leave early - I wanted to finish school. I met up with Kimberly down in Miami and we both enrolled to finish our Senior Year while she was competing."

Tommy's face turned three shades of white as he slowly turned back around and looked at Jason. "The letter..." Accusations quickly moved into Tommy's mind as he could still hear Adam's voice, when he read the letter, at the Youth Center. "We're you the one - the one she left me for?" A hint of anger released with his voice.

With a quick shake of his head, and a wave of his hand, Jason dismissed Tommy's last statement - seeing it as completely ridiculous. "Bro, of course not! But the letter is another story - and it's not my place to tell you about it."

Jason's consolation did little to mollify or subdue the old hurt - hurt Tommy had thought himself long over - but Jason's glance at Kimberly as he'd made his denial was as good as his explanation. It was Kimberly's story.

As he tried to formulate the right words to explain what happened to them, in a brief view, Jason failed to notice Tommy's scrutiny - and acceptance. "Right around that time, when Kim and I started at Miami High, we were captured and held in the Dark Dimension by Zedd."

"Why didn't you tell me when you came back as the Gold Ranger?"

"Honestly? I barely remember my time as the Gold Ranger or any of these past few years - it's like a blur. Same for Kim too. I can't even describe what happened or what we went through..." He looked beyond Tommy and back over at Kim who was still unconscious on the couch. "Let's take this outside..."

Jason didn't wait for Tommy's agreement as he moved out the front door and onto the deck where he leaned against the outer railing, looking up at the midnight moon and stars. He waited, patently, as Tommy hesitated, the sound of footsteps finally sounding behind him.

Tommy stopped just outside the door, closing it behind him. Crossing his arms, he regarded the tense lines of his friend's back, seeing more tension there than he'd ever seen before - and it scared him. Not just because of what Jason was going to tell him, but because whatever it was hadn't yet been dealt with. It was still happening. He cleared his throat when it became obvious Jason wasn't going to speak and asked the question Jason seemed to need. What came out was laced with fear - for both Jason and Kim - but it was the memory of Kimberly's haunted gaze that was tearing at his insides.

"What happened to you guys?"

There was silence for a long minute as Jason seemed to think about his answer, struggling to find the right words; the words that would explain everything without needing to go into detail - the words that would showcase exactly how horrific the experience had been. "All I can say is it was the worst experience of my life." Big understatement, but it was true enough. "I still have nightmares about it and I pray every night that I don't - that the memories won't come. It was worse for the others...but I still went through a lot."

"You mean worse for Kim?"

"No, well yes - but the others besides Kim." He paused and looked back over his shoulder at Tommy, moisture starting to form in his eyes despite his struggle against it. "Trini...and Zack...they didn't make it when we escaped." Looking away, Jason lifted on hand to wipe away the tears that escaped - that always escaped - when thinking about it. As much as he tried to put on the tough-guy routine and always stay strong, the mention of his fallen friends always broke him down.

Silence befell both of them.

When it was obvious he'd shocked Tommy into silence Jason had to add the last, most awful part of the whole thing. "They sacrificed themselves to save Kim and I."

Tommy walked forward and placed a comforting hand on Jason's back, propelled into action by the choked admission. "They were true friends. They knew you would have done the same if the situation was reversed."

"But it's not!" Jason raised his voice as he stood straight, rounding on Tommy. "You have no idea what happened, bro; you can't possibly understand! Don't try and rationalize what they did - you don't know the half of it."

"No, I don't understand. But I know how they would have felt. It's how any of us would have felt."

Jason managed an apologetic half grin as he looked back at Tommy, standing face to face now.

"In the dark dimension, we woke up restrained to these machines...Zedd referred to them as 'Morphing Grid Transmogrifer Hubs'. I simply call them draining the hell out of my powers. But in all reality we could have died. Their purpose was to drain us of our powers and life energy...to create the Dark Rangers. The machine's first model was the rotating power transfer that Zedd used when Goldar kidnapped Kimberly. Being able to enhance the machine, he was able to generate both power and life force. Even though the rangers that he had captured were former rangers, their power source was still deep within their blood. The power never truly leaves you."

Tommy's eyes widened and his mouth gapped open a bit for a half second before he frowned. "Does he already have them?"

Shaking his head, Jason crossed his arms. "No, he hasn't created them yet. He's using his minions to try and track down the remaining rangers."

"Goldar and Scorpina?" They were Tommy's first thought. He had already seen Goldar but Scorpina was like his fighting female - his counterpart. Like Kimberly was to Tommy.

"No, he doesn't have Scorpina; in her place is someone much worse...I can't even believe her power. She is a version of a dark ranger, but Zedd did not create her. Astronema, who is actually Karone, created the Psycho Rangers which faced the Space and Galaxy Rangers. We had no idea who she was until we met up with them to warn them about the threat. They explained who Psycho Pink was."

"I've heard about the Psycho Rangers, but how did they survive?"

Jason sighed deeply out of both of agony and irritation. He had told this story so many times, but never once did he have any trouble... but none of the other rangers were Tommy. "Try to keep up with me, Dr. Oliver. Zedd isn't from our world, or from our reality. In the reality that Zedd is from, Psycho Pink ruled supreme. She defeated both the Space and Galaxy rangers."

"So that's why you and Kim showed up here?"

"Partially. Zedd had this twisted... infatuation with Kim."

Tommy felt a lump in his throat and his stomach turned. He didn't know exactly what Jason meant by that but he had some idea. He didn't even want to think about what it implied - and knew without asking his friend wouldn't say more. Instead he asked the other obvious question. "Have you faced Goldar and Psycho Pink before today?"

"Unfortunately - and each time seems to get worse. Psycho Pink wasn't here this time, which was good as she has an obsession with Kim too. Since Kim was the original and first Pink Ranger, Psycho Pink wants to destroy her more than anyone or anything else."

"Then why didn't she attack this time?" Tommy asked seeing the logical strategy to go after Kim.

"Maybe Zedd held her back. He... needs Kim."

Nodding, after understanding everything that Jason revealed to him, Tommy pulled out his cell phone with a slight grimace as he noted the time. "I better warn the others - this isn't going to be easy."

* * *

The room was barely lit with the one lamp on the end table. The light only reached as far as the end of the couch and dimmed out by the coffee table. Kimberly's still restless body had passed from unconsciousness into slumber, unaware of her surroundings.

"Fools." A shadow appeared, fusing out from the depths of the wall. "It's too easy."

As the shadow moved closer it revealed it's true form once the light from the lamp lit against it. The space villain, clothed in a main hard metallic black suit, with winding stripes of pink, stripes that appeared to stand out like bat wings, and a helmet that was mostly covered with the same pink bat-like structure, and an rugged mouth covering, stepped out from the darkness.

Psycho Pink glided towards Kimberly, thrusting her arm out to grab hold of Kimberly's forehead - which instantly awoke the former Pink Ranger.

Brown eyes snapped open, widening with alarm as her mouth gapped and Kimberly let out a scream. Psycho Pink's free hand slapped her mouth shut, cutting off the shriek. Kimberly grabbed onto her wrists as she tried to break the grip on her.

"No!"

Tears streamed down Kimberly's face as she felt her energy being drained and her mind being read. "Not again!"

Psycho Pink read Kimberly's mind as a wave of pink energy swirled up her arm. An evil, insane, and vicious laugh escaped her mouth. "Yes, Kimberly! And this time I'll finish you!"

Running at a mile a minute, Kimberly's mind was frantically searching for a way to force Psycho Pink away. Tommy and Jason were still outside and the door was shut, so they wouldn't have been alarmed by any sound. She thought quickly even though her mind was already racing, from it being pulled and probed at.

"Tommy! No!"

"Kim...you...need...to...escape..."

A dark memory swirled about her, breaking free from the restraints she'd built inside her mind, and Kimberly knew she had to act fast. Somehow she managed to resist the searing pain that came with it, channeling it into action.

With a thrust of her knee, and a swing from her arms, Kimberly twisted her body up and thrust her leg out, knocking Psycho Pink into and over the coffee table, causing it to collapse. "Jason!" The scream was shrill, desperate as she flipped over Psycho Pink.

With Kimberly flipping in the air, Psycho Pink reached out and grabbed her wrist, using it to spin into the air with her. It brought Psycho Pink back up and straight at Kimberly, using the momentum to throw Kimberly into the wall as she reached for the tip of her head. "I already know your secrets, why not reveal more?"

Another psychotic laugh followed.

The sound of the door crashing open almost made Kimberly weep with relief as Jason's familiar form raced through just behind Psycho Pink. The former red ranger grabbed the villain by one shoulder, yanking her away from Kimberly. As she fell back, Jason thrust his leg out and forcefully kicked her out of the house, through the doorway - almost hitting Tommy.

"Uh-YAH!"

Kimberly's cry had sounded through the door and Tommy's blood had run cold. Kimberly calling Jason's name the way she'd once called his had been something of a shock. Jason's reactions, however, had been better than his own. Moving like a man possessed, Jason had flown by to Kimberly's rescue.

Incensed, Tommy felt as if his blood was boiling. After being so close to her after ten years, he couldn't, and wouldn't let anything happen to her. As he saw Psycho Pink fly out of the doorway, he grabbed her, lifting her into the air and pushed her through and out his deck. "Ut-set-uh-yah!"

Psycho Pink was still laughing however, as she hit the ground and effortlessly stood up to point a finger at Tommy. "You'll regret coming back here." She faded away in a pink light as it disappeared in the forest.

* * *

Kimberly crumbled to the floor the moment Psycho Pink was flung away from her, covering her face in her hands and pushing as she ran them back towards her hair. Grasping large handfuls in frustration as tears began to fall; she sobbed once - a very deep and uncontrollable cry. Her body shook with fear and she began to cough as she saw Jason kneel down to her.

"Kim! Kim, are you alright?!" Jason almost yelled in fear and placed his hands on her shoulders.

Shaking from fright, Kimberly looked up - her expression devoid of all emotion. Recoiling from his support, she leaned against the wall - unable to stifle her cries as she pulled her knees up. Her tormented gaze held the only emotion as tears continued to stream from sightless eyes - eyes that suddenly disappeared as she buried them against her raised knees. Jason's hand fell away as her arms wrapped tightly against her legs, her knuckles turning white where they grasped opposite forearms.

Anyone who had known Kimberly through her ranger days would never have believe the same self-assured, self-less and fear-less young woman who'd brave countless monsters in order to save the ones she loved and cared about was the quivering woman before them.

Even when her power coin was under the hands of evil, she risked her own life to try and save Katherine she'd never been broken, emerging from the battle scarred but fundamentally the same. Now, to see the same woman break down over Psycho Pink's quick attack, was heart wrenching.

Tommy returned as Kimberly's broken cries echoed through his living room, his hands fisting as he struggled with the instincts urging him to run to her, to shoulder all of her cares and worries - to take care of her once more. Somehow, in those few moments, he resisted and managed to walk over by Jason, but it didn't stop the pained expression that covered his face. He'd never been able to stand seeing Kimberly cry and even now he shook with the effort to resist comforting her.

"Kim...?" There was no reaction forthcoming. Crouching, Tommy tried again, his own hands turning bloodless as he fought off the need to touch her. "Kim?"

Placing one hand on Tommy's shoulder, Jason shook his head. "She can't hear you, bro."

"Is she going to be alright?"

Jason studied his friend for a moment. He had to reach Kim, if it got any worse, he wasn't sure if he'd get her back. "I don't know, man. Can you get a glass of water?"

It was there in front of him and Tommy couldn't help but feel a sharp stab of pain as he realized he was intruding - he was powerless. He couldn't believe how close Jason and Kim had grown over the years and a part of him was envious. Another part was sad as he understood Jason's unspoken message - nodding slowly, he rose to his feet and quietly turned for the kitchen.

Jason made Kim look into his eyes as he placed two hands on the side of her head and locked his gaze with hers. "Kim, what did she do to you?"

Biting her lip, Kimberly tried to hold it together so she could at least mumble out what happened during her altercation with Psycho Pink. Inhaling deeply, she was able to push past the tightness in her throat. "She... she stole..." Kimberly shut her eyes as the damage that Psycho Pink began to surface, shredding defenses and hurtling through the blocks she'd put in place to stop it - damage that tore and made her heart bleed.

In the norm of Psycho Pink, she would steal the inner most memories and powers of her foe. But in her newly powered state, instead of stealing her memories, and gaining knowledge from them she had forced Kimberly to live through the memories she was trying to block out.

"Stole what, Kim?!" Jason asked as he turned his head to see Tommy walking back with a glass of water.

Kim followed his look and the moment she gazed upon Tommy, her eyes slammed tightly shut and the choked sobbing resumed as she rocked back and forth in an attempt to block out... everything.

One of the memories that Psycho Pink released, rushed back, heedless of her attempts to keep it at bay.

_The Dark Dimension Lord Zedd had reestablished was a horrible place. Kimberly and Jason had just arrived and their fears and worries showed in their expressions as they landed unceremoniously in a large cavern. With no any powers and no communicators, they didn't know just how were they suppose to escape._

_Smoke swirled about the area and Kimberly spun as a sound echoed from somewhere to her right. "Who's there?"_

_"Kim..." The faint voice came again._

_Turning her head, Kimberly looked around, trying to find who was calling out for her. She walked through the room, confused and dizzy, and something grabbed her ankle. Jason steadied her, only to let go as she collapsed to the ground instead of flipping away._

_What she saw when she stopped horrified her._

_"Tommy?!" Kimberly cried out as she placed her hands on his chest and shook him. "Tommy!"_

_He looked haggard, emaciated, almost as if he'd been tortured or starved - but it wasn't a physical pain that was shadowed in his gaze. It was the terror she saw there that caught her attention - not for himself but for her._

_"Tommy, say something."_

_"Kim..."_

_"Tommy!" She clasped the hand he reached towards her. "What have they done to you?"_

_White beams of light emanated from his body as he struggled to form the words to tell her. His expression turned intense and, somehow, he forced the words out. "Kim...you..."_

_Gripping his hand tighter, she could feel the substance starting to slip away.._

_"need...to..."_

_Horror engulfed her as she realized that Tommy was slipping away from her grasp, his hand going from substantial to semi-substantial - her own squeezing his tightly in an attempt to hold him._

_"escape..."_

_White energy beams of light were floating all around his body and when he finished speaking, his form beamed white and then all that was left of him was piles of white energy dust, the kind that Lord Zedd was collecting. The feel of it was gritty on her skin, slipping through her fingers as his hand disintegrated in hers. Unconsciously clenching her fingers about it, she reached for the pile blindly, trying to bring him back._

_Everything had been in his gaze - regret most of all. Regret that he couldn't spare her the same fate._

_"No! TOMMY!"_

Opening her eyes, they met Tommy's as he kneeled down to give her the water. She quickly turned her head to block out his expression - she couldn't bear to look at him. The tears, which had never stopped, continued to slide down her cheeks; a silent, solemn testament to what the vision was doing to her inside.

Jason followed her actions without difficulty and it didn't take much to deduce what she was thinking.

"Hey...come on Kim." Tommy's coaxing tone was slightly rough, hurt by her rejection - by what he saw again in her gaze. He wanted some type of reunion with her other than holding her unconscious body against his chest."This will make you feel better."

Knowing Kim's reaction already, Jason took the glass of water and placed his hand on her shoulder. She made no move, gave no reaction or indication she felt his touch. Yet, when Jason placed the glass into her field of view, she lifted one trembling hand and accepted it wordlessly.

Tommy backed off, stung by her actions and trying not to feel it. Ten years was a long time, but he couldn't recall having done anything that would make her ignore him this way or have her treat him like this. He rose, moving to sit on the arm of the couch as he watched Jason say something softly to her without more than a twitch in response before the former red ranger rose to his feet and joined him.

Jason chose to stand in case he had to go back to Kim, watching her with obvious concern.

Breaking the silence, Tommy knew what he had to ask based on the evidence. "This..." he waved one hand at Kimberly to indicate her state, "has to do with me, doesn't it?"

Jason nodded, watching Kim dipping one finger into and out of the water mindlessly as she stared blankly off into the distance, the wet streaks continuing unabated down her cheeks, but didn't offer anything further.

"What... what happened, Jason?" A part of him didn't want to know, but he had to ask. "What did I do to her?"

Bleak eyes turned his way. "You died."


	3. The Break of Darkness

_**S E M P E R F I**_

_Disclaimer_: Power Rangers does not belong to me, the use of the characters, and original ideas all belong to Saban and there respective partners. The plot for this story and the sub stories do belong to me however.

_A/N_: Thanks for all the reviews! Keep them coming! -**smile**-

A/N 2: There now exists a trailer for this fanfiction on my youtube account, which is posted on my author's page. I really hope you enjoy this chapter, Jade-Max and I collaborated together very well, making this chapter, hopefully nothing shy from great.

_Special Thanks_: Jade-Max

_Summary_: Intent on capturing all of the Rangers, an old evil has returned and Jason and Kim must face their own nightmares as they race to protect the plant one last time…

_Chapter Three_: The Break of Darkness

_Written By_: Chrisangelo and Jade-Max

* * *

"Died?" Arching his eyebrows, Tommy regarded Jason in surprise. "Funny, I don't feel dead."

"It wasn't you - but it was."

"I don't get it. Shouldn't she be happy I'm alive?"

Jason looked back to Kim and made a decision; this part of the story he _could_ tell. "The Tommy from an alternate timeline died - but it _was _you to _her_. You died in her arms, bro - vanishing into a little pile of white dust and there was nothing we could do about it. You didn't see her face afterwards; it just about destroyed her thinking that you were dead. She was so certain it was _you_..."

He shook his head as, across the room, Kimberly continued to rock back and forth in silent agony. Knowing there was nothing he could do or say to really comfort her, he silently cursed the fates that her episodes were always worse after Psycho Pink's attacks. "We didn't realize it wasn't you - this you - until we escaped and saw you guys on TV. That when this... it..." Unable to continue, Jason waved one hand towards Kim in silent explanation.

It wasn't the whole truth, but it _was_ a good chunk of it. Unfortunately there was little more he could relate that was his story to tell.

"I still don't get it. I'm alive; shouldn't she be happy?"

Their gazes locked once more and Jason shook his head. "It's not that simple, bro. I wish it was, but what Kim went through-" he stopped, cutting himself off. Instead, he tried to answer Tommy's question - but only ended up being cryptic. "You're a reminder right now of everything she thought she'd lost and has lost, Tommy - hopes and dreams she no longer has. It's why you're the last group we came to find."

"I don't understand, Jase."

"That's all I can tell you. Your death affected her in ways I didn't know it could - and finding out you were alive only made it worse."

Died.

He'd died.

And Kim had held him when it happened.

It was too much to take in on top of everything else and Tommy reeled with all the information that was swirling around in his head a muddled mess. Alternate timeline villains; rangers and enemies; alternate timeline demises; Kimberly witnessing his own death and who knew what else! With a soft groan he dropped his head and cradled it in his hands.

A solid hand landed on his shoulder and squeezed in silent support.

It was too much to take in for such a short period of time. Still, Kimberly and Jason were here now, more importantly they _hadn't_ died in Zedd's Dark Dimension - they'd escaped and taken up a mission to warn all former Rangers of the danger they were in. Despite her traumas, Kimberly was still fighting underneath it all - fighting to prevent what had happened to her from happening to others.

He tilted his head and regarded her silently - really _looking_ at her for the first time since they'd arrived; and noted things now that he hadn't had time to since this whole crazy episode had begun. She looked tired - exhausted was probably more accurate - as if she hadn't slept well in a long, long time. Black circles marred her features under her eyes where previously there had been none, new strain lines around her eyes and mouth visible to him even at this angle.

Jason wasn't telling him everything - the guy flat out admitted it - but what was he hiding?

What had happened to Kim?

Jason left Tommy to his quiet contemplation, watching Kimberly with him for several moments before swooping down pick her up. Despite the sudden lift into his arms, she stayed in her impotent state, not even bothering to latch onto him for a long moment. It wasn't until he made to turn, to look at Tommy, that Kimberly clung to him and her once silent cry turned full into sound.

"Do you have a spare room?" Jason's quiet question was directed at Tommy as Kimberly buried her face in the side of his neck to avoid the former white ranger.

That small action, intentional or not, made Tommy flinch. Kimberly had never deliberately avoided him before and today was a new lesson in rejection. It was one Tommy could have done without. He understood why Jason was moving Kim - it was because the other rangers were coming over - but seeing Kimberly put all of her trust and faith in Jason, made Tommy's heart crumble further more. The closest he had gotten to Kim, was when she was unconscious.

Was she that afraid of him?

With a wave of his hand, he pointed Jason in the direction he needed to go, aware he was being watched expectantly. "Yeah...it's down the hall. Last door on the left."

No sooner than Jason disappeared with Kimberly, than an urgent knock came upon Tommy's front door. It figured. When had anyone given him time to recover from the whirlwind that was his life? "Perfect timing..." A shake of his head brought him out of his melancholy thoughts, tucking them away for later as he stood and moved to let his former students through the door. "Thanks for coming."

"No problem, Dr. O."

The leader of the dino five entered first, followed by Ethan who shook Tommy's hand, anticipating a full on explanation on why they had to leave Reefside. He'd heard the abbreviated version from Kira - who was told by Kimberly. It was obvious from his intent look that he expected their mentor to be able to explain the cryptic warning.

Kira followed on his heels, smiling at Tommy as she pulled Trent in with her, their hands entangled. Trent returned the favor, moving to sit down on the couch and hauling Kira down with one arm wrapped around her waist. Conner and Ethan both sat down on nearby chairs as they all looked at Tommy. Kira settled herself against Trent, looking at Tommy expectantly. "I told them everything Kimberly told me to, but when we received your call, we were about to leave. What's up, Dr. O?"

Closing the door with a last look outside, Tommy turned and moved the two steps necessary to stand before them. His attention was focused down the hallway behind them where Kimberly lay in who knew what kind of state. Yet, he knew he had to keep his attention to this current situation. No matter how badly Kimberly - or Jason - hurt, it was plain as day they wanted no help from him. Whatever had happened had drawn them towards one another, bound them so tightly, Tommy felt like the outsider he'd begun as over twelve years ago.

Focusing on his former students, he drew his mind back to the task at hand. "Lord Zedd, self-proclaimed Ruler of the Universe, has finally taken his podium."

"Your video diary said you beat Lord Zedd."

"In this reality." The confirmation was accompanied with a faint smile. "In an alternate reality, my friends and I never defeated him and he completely obliterated every generation of Power Rangers to capture the entire universe."

"Except for the odd one that managed to escape." A voice echoed from a dark hallway as the very first leader of the Power Rangers stepped forward in the light. His upper shirt was soaked from Kimberly's tears, and he had draped his jacket over his shoulder. "Or at least that's what I'm led to believe. If Zedd had captured and destroyed all of the power rangers, he would live supreme and he wouldn't need to journey into another world to capture us."

"How do you know all of this?" Conner spoke up, his instant leader voice kicking in, and filled with disbelief.

Frowning, Jason stared at the younger man, unable to believe his skeptic attitude. What happened to the teenagers that actually took concern from their mentors? Making a quick decision, Jason tossed his jacket over one arm of the couch and turned, reaching back to jerk his shirt up by the collar.

Angry red welts and white scars crisscrossed the once smooth plane of muscle. A suture mark, where a muscle had been severed and reattached, disappeared upwards under the cloth and was revealed as Jason tugged his shirt over his head. The mark covered almost half his back from waist to shoulder and faint pink circles created divots that hadn't healed from his time on Zedd's machine.

A shocked inhalation behind him was Jason's cue. Turning back to face the former dino rangers, Jason's tone and expression were grim. "I know - because I was one of four who escaped."

There was silence as Jason pulled his shirt back over his head and down, hiding the scars. A silence Tommy finally broke as he went over and placed one hand on Jason's shoulder. He couldn't help his stricken look as he considered the pain Jason must have endured. "Jase...you never said anything about these."

Jason then proceeded to lift the sleeves on his arms, revealing raised tissue, from him trying to escape from the Morphing Grid Transmogrifer Hubs - the machine that stole his power and life energy. He had struggled for over a week, trying everything he could to get out and help his friends. Even with the power draining, Jason had never given up. It wasn't in his nature to do so. "The timing wasn't right, bro, but you deserve to know. Mine are worse than Kim's."

Tommy ran a fingertip over one of the puckered scars before turning to face the other former rangers again. "Lord Zedd-"

The sound of the door opening unexpectedly caused his defensive nature to spring up and he stepped into his fighting stance without thinking. It wasn't until a woman stepped through the door, that Tommy relaxed in surprise. "_Haley_?"

"Do you honestly think I would miss an opportunity to save the world - _again_?" The brunette inquired with a warm smile as she closed the door and held something up for his inspection. "I still have a key."

The former dino rangers seemed to relax with Haley's appearance and Jason took his cue from the rest. That Tommy trusted her was enough for him - for now.

"Now, please continue." Haley moved to sit by Conner on the edge of the chair he'd chosen. "And don't leave anything out."

"Do I ever?"

Her pointed look made Tommy flush and he cleared his throat before continuing. "According to what we know, Lord Zedd's ultimate goal is to create the Dark Rangers. Since Zordon recruited us," he motioned to Jason and himself, "as teenagers, we and many others after us, have faced different incarnations of these Dark Rangers. But, none of them are even close to perfection. From the way I understand it, is that in order for them to exist, Lord Zedd needs exceeding amounts of life force and energy, the kind that only a ranger can produce after they are dead."

"The body gives off no signals once it's dead." Haley broke in skeptically. "How is that even possible?"

"Dead rangers turn into sand particles of their respective colors." He slanted a look at Jason, who nodded in confirmation.

Jason took up the story since he and Kim hadn't fully briefed Tommy yet. "We're not sure how exactly that makes a difference, but Lord Zedd's been collecting the sands. Somehow, he's pulling whatever energy's left out of it. Even dead we're helping him."

Unease had spread with Jason's wounds, but true fear now worked its way through the room. Kira clutched at Trent, Conner paled and even Ethan looked an unhealthy shade as they exchanged nervous looks.

Haley, though not a Power Ranger, felt her own kind of fear. Not for her life, but for the lives of those the Power Rangers had always protected. The Earth - for as long as she understood it - had some help from the Power Rangers. If they were gone, in both realities, there would be no hope for the future. Lord Zedd would reign supreme everywhere and continue to destroy until he and his minions were the only ones left. Resolve sharpened her mind as she began forming strategies, for an nonstrategic battle. "What can we do, Tommy? How can we stop him?"

"You can't!" Jason pulled on his leather jacket, heading for the door. "No one can. No power exists that can stop them."

"I'm sure I could come up with something...we can't just let Earth die because we didn't try."

"You don't understand!" Jason snapped as he pointed back into the hallway towards the room where Kim lay. "You didn't see what they did to us even when we swore never to give up. Kim and I have fought... we've fought for _years_. And we've lost... two of the best rangers - the best _friends _- we've ever known because they sacrificed themselves so we could warn the rest of you. Too many have died trying to fight him. The only choice now is to run."

Zack and Trini. Jason's reference couldn't be anyone else and while the former dino rangers wouldn't know of whom he spoke, Tommy and Haley did. Haley because Tommy had spoken of his past and Tommy... well Tommy well remembered the two from his initial days as a Ranger. Trini had been Kimberly's best friend and her death was likely another blow to Kim's already battered mind.

Tommy stepped forward as Jason looked to continue his impassioned speech and real anger crept into his expression. No matter Jason's frame of mind, Tommy wouldn't let this degenerate into a screaming match that would only alienate themselves from one another. Subconsciously he found himself stepping into the role Kimberly had normally filled - peace maker.

"There's literally nothing we _can _do. The Dino Gems have been destroyed and every other power source out there was lost when Zordon's energy was sacrificed to stop evil. No other power exists - and if it does, we haven't found it yet. Our best offense right now is our defense - which is to run." He turned to face Haley and his face softened up, knowing they wouldn't be after her. "You are safe, but I suggest still leaving Reefside. You four..." He turned back to them. "Have to escape; tonight. We're wasting time by you even being here."

Jason, once again in control of his temper, offered the last of the information Tommy didn't yet have. "There is a sanctuary stationed in Stone Canyon. It's an underground base that William Cranston established, which blocks out any senses of Zedd. He can't track you there. The other rangers have been grouped there for months."

"If...he's in Reefside, how do we escape?" Kira's question was hesitant and very uncharacteristic for the spunky and self-confident blonde.

"Time. That's all we can give you. You need to leave now. It's been about an hour since the last attack so they shouldn't be back for awhile." Jason hoped that - for once in his existence - Goldar would stick to a pattern. "Kim and I will stay behind to ensure you get away cleanly."

"And me." Tommy shook his head sharply as Jason made to protest. "They're safer without me anyway; Lord Zedd's always taken my continued existence _personally_."

Opening his mouth as if to reply, Jason quickly snapped it shut. What Tommy didn't yet know was that Lord Zedd hadn't had a problem with Tommy - but with Tommy's attachment to Kimberly. That tie had turned into a grudge Lord Zedd had turned on Kimberly during their captivity and his continued taunts about Tommy's demise had only made things worse. Much worse. Jason shook off the memories with difficulty. "Thanks bro. The rest of you should head out - the sooner the better."

"Are you sure you should stay, Doctor O?"

"I'll be fine, Kira. Just keep them in line until we join you at Stone Canyon."

She grinned, slanting a mischievous look at the other former dino rangers and looking more like herself since this meeting had begun. "Are you putting me in charge?"

"Someone has to be." Trent interjected with a half-smile before Tommy could reply. "Might as well be you. Be careful, Doctor Oliver."

"I will, Trent."

"Kira in charge?" Connor scoffed as he shook hands with Tommy. "You've a screw loose Doctor O."

"She's more level headed than you are - and she thinks before jumping in." Tommy's answering smile was tinged with regret. "Just don't drag her into anything."

Conner smirked, heading for the door. "That's what she's got Trent for."

Ethan shook his head as he clasped Tommy on the shoulder. "We'll be careful - you too Doctor O. We expect you to make that rendezvous."

"I'll be there."

"You'd better be."

"If there's nothing else that I can help you with," Haley drew their attention as she stepped forward to hug Tommy. "I should probably go with them."

"You don't have to."

"I know." She embraced the former white ranger with an almost impish smile. "But who else is going to help Billy with this crew? I'll be able to move around more freely than they will and, who knows, I just might-"

"Wait, Haley..." Jason held out his hand as his expression faded into horrified incredulity - directed at himself for almost passing up an ideal opportunity. "There _is _something that you can help us with."

Haley spun, instantly willing help them with whatever they needed and forgo running to hide. Her demeanor and will was a lot like Billy's. "What can I do?"

"There...was a ranger we never could manage to get a hold of...we searched everywhere. She was one of the ones we tried contacting over a year ago...one from the beginning."

Tommy, under the impression that the Dino Thunder Rangers were the last to know about this, was thrown into a loop with Jason's sudden confession. "Who do you mean, Jase?"

"Kat..." He paused, clearing his throat and then elaborated for Haley's benefit. "Katherine Hillard; the second Pink Ranger. We searched in London and Australia, but we never did find her. Billy tried locating her, but our teleportation system isn't fully functional and he couldn't get a read on her anywhere."

"What did you try?"

Jason smiled faintly. "Anything Billy could think of, Haley - but with our limited resources, we couldn't try everything he wanted to."

"Our command center is still partially intact and I know I repaired most of the computer systems." Haley looked to Tommy and then towards the teenagers who were teetering on the brink of leaving, but wanting to stay and help if they could. "Someone needs to go with them, though."

Tommy made one of those split second decisions he'd always had to make as a ranger and pointed instead to the basement, beckoning his former students over. "Once we find where Kat is, we'll guide you out of the city. If they come, we'll give you the opportunity to escape."

They trooped by him, but Jason put a hand on Tommy's shoulder, obviously torn as the others disappeared below, looking back towards the dark hallway. "I need to help Haley, bro. Do you think you could watch over Kim? She... she doesn't do well - alone."

"Are you sure, Jase?"

Jason nodded. "She needs someone with her when she gets like this and I can't..." he glanced back towards the basement, obviously torn. "I have to help Haley find Kat. Just be there for her; it seems to be enough."

Almost fearing the responsibility - not because he couldn't fulfill the obligation but because of how Kimberly reacted to him - Tommy finally nodded. "Sure, no problem...just make sure to try and hurry...I don't know when they'll be back."

"Thanks bro - we'll hurry."

Jason disappeared into the basement through the secret wall that lead down from Tommy's kitchen, leaving Tommy alone at the top of the stairs.

Alone.

A part of him wanted to follow, to help find Kat, but he couldn't. He'd just promised Jason to take up a burden he'd never expected to carry again - one Kimberly herself had relieved him from. Shaking off the old feeling of protectiveness she'd always awakened in him with difficulty, he turned to make good on his word. The eerie feeling of walking through the unknown settled upon him and everything in his home seemed to have taken on a newness it had lacked before. He refused to examine why as he padded down the hallway and slowly opened the bedroom door to look in.

Kimberly was sleeping. Curled up on her side, her hands lay beside her head on the pillow and she hunched unthinkingly into her jacket. Her eyes were swollen from lack of proper sleep and the emotional whirlwind she experienced on a daily basis. Spread out about her head like a halo, was the chestnut colored hair he still remembered in his dreams - hair he loved to touch and his hands twitched to feel even now.

Selfish.

Could he be so selfish as to move closer to her? To brush his hand through her hair and sit down next to her in an attempt to reassure her that - as long as he was living - no one would ever hurt her? Could he be so selfish as to give into temptation; to hold her knowing part of what she'd been through? To indulge his selfish, whimsical need to recapture the past and be the one she leaned on again?

No.

Those feelings were completely gone now - or so it seemed to Tommy at least. Kimberly had grown, moved beyond him and he had to respect her choice. Still, she was his friend - always his friend - regardless.

"I'll protect you, Kim. I'll save you from this." The words slipped out before he could stop them - not that she heard.

Tommy didn't move from the doorway, watching her silently sleep and fearful of another rejection should she wake to find him near. His mind turned over everything that had been revealed to him, knowing it was only a small portion of the tale they had to tell. Having her nearby once more was both a blessing and a curse, drawing emotions from the depth of his soul he hadn't realized he still harbored. It made him want to open the sealed mental box of memories to bask in the past - and knowing he couldn't.

Friend of lover, whatever had happened to Kimberly was etched in the exhaustion of her features and it broke his heart. There, in the semi-darkness of his guest room, a tear finally broke free from Tommy's eye as it ran down his cheek. A silent, glistening testament to what was, what could have been and what never would be.

* * *

"I found her."

Haley had fought with the computer to get it to boot, but once loaded, it worked like a charm. Using her considerable knowledge, she refined her search using the criteria Jason provided. After about twenty minutes of searching the entire planet, she had located Katherine. There was a dot pulsing - of course - in her natural ranger color; pink. As Haley zoomed in on the area, a unexpected gasp escaped her lips.

"This can't be..."

"What is it, Haley?" Jason asked as he approached her computer chair, resting slightly on it and the computer desk.

"She's in Reefside." Haley said as fear flooded her voice and she began typing swiftly on the keypad as she activated the camera systems that were set up all over Reefside. "She should be on that screen in moments."

Jason directed his attention to it, watching as the blurred image finally sharpened up. Slamming his fists against the desk, he leaned closer to the screen. "No!"

The teenage rangers stood up to see what prompted the antagonized scream to come from Jason, gathering around behind him to get a look at the video feeds.

"Hey, that looks like outside of Dr. O's...wait...that's his jeep!" Ethan digitalized the image into his mind, as he used his photographic memory of the outside surroundings and quickly deducted where they were.

"He's right. They're outside." Haley confirmed as she powered down the systems and activated the security to the house - despite the fact she knew it wouldn't help.

Storming up the stairs, Jason shoved his way through the secret door and ran for the dark hallway, his horse call echoing through the house.

"_Tommy_!"


	4. Whisper in the Dark

_**S E M P E R F I**_

_Disclaimer_: Power Rangers does not belong to me, the use of the characters, and original ideas all belong to Saban and there respective partners. The plot for this story and the sub stories do belong to me however.

_A/N_: Thanks for all the reviews! Keep them coming! -**smile**-

_Special Thanks_: Jade-Max

_Summary_: Intent on capturing all of the Rangers, an old evil has returned and Jason and Kim must face their own nightmares as they race to protect the plant one last time…

_Chapter Four_: Whisper in the Dark

_Written By_: Chrisangelo and Jade-Max

* * *

Tommy straightened at the sound of Jason's cry, the first soft echo almost swallowed by the stairs. He'd begun to turn when Jason called a second time – but it was Kimberly's reaction that caught him completely off guard.

Slumber disappeared in an instant and Tommy was nearly bowled over as Kimberly shot from the bed - as if she'd been waiting for the call. That it wasn't her name, but his, didn't seem to matter - only that it had been Jason's voice. An almost morbid curiosity was contained in her breathless tone as she joined him in the doorway. "Are they back?!"

Jason skidded to a halt in the hallway as Kimberly appeared with her hair askew and landing about her shoulders haphazardly. There was a glazed look in her eyes, a hint of dread he couldn't help but miss and something… something else.

She was apparently ignoring the fact that she was standing directly beside Tommy, Jason couldn't help but notice - even in his panic - that it was an act. Kimberly had never been able to ignore _anything_ about Tommy. Not when they'd first become Power Rangers, not when she'd thought him dead - and not when they'd returned with the knowledge that they'd eventually have to warn him.

Jason's focus shifted back to the matter at hand and what had brought him to find them. The seriousness of the situation had him fighting to control the gorge rising in his throat as his heart pounded erratically; Kat was in danger. "They've got her."

"They've got who?"

Tommy pushed himself away from the door frame, stepping to the side to avoid being close to Kim. It went against every instinct, but he knew she wouldn't thank him later - and he needed to focus on the now. She was too much of a distraction, especially in her current state. His desire to protect her - even from her nightmares - was too great.

"Kat. They've got her... and they're outside."

The three veteran rangers quickly made their way to the living room, where Haley and the other four former rangers had congregated after Jason's mad dash up the stairs. This particular instance involved civilians - Haley and Kat - neither one of them had experienced this newfound battle. Kat might have had a couple of years of fighting as a ranger but even still she wasn't nearly experienced as Jason, Kim, or Tommy. The Dino Thunder Rangers were the least experienced - and would need a way out.

"This would have worked! How the hell did they get Kat?" Jason's confused question wasn't directed at anyone in particular. They'd diligently looked everywhere they could think of... how could Lord Zedd get to her first?

"Let us help." Trent insisted confidently as he held onto Kira's hand. "We're former rangers too."

Kimberly took a long look at the youngest of the Ranger groups and shook her head. "You need to get to Billy's Sanctuary; you can't stand up against them."

"Who're you to tell us what to do?"

"Connor, you dolt, that's Kimberly!" Kira's hiss made him blink in surprise.

"Kimberly?"

"The _original_ pink ranger?" Connor's face flushed as Kira rolled her eyes and addressed the former ranger. "Sorry, Kim."

Kimberly waved the apology away. "We could use your help, you guys, but this is beyond your abilities. Jason and I-"

"And me."

Pausing at Tommy's interruption, she reluctantly rephrased what she was about to say. "Jason, _Tommy_ and I stand a better chance of doing this on our own if we know you're all safe. Rangers always want to help other rangers, but the biggest help you can be to us is to get the hell out of here."

"Your mission is to protect Haley." Tommy dug into his pocket for his keys, knowing the four needed to have some kind of direction - to feel like they were contributing. "Use my Jeep. We'll distract them. Follow the path through the forest and then head for Stone Canyon. Make sure to tell William Cranston to meet us back in Reefside as soon as possible."

Conner nodded, catching the keys. "Will do, Dr. O."

As they were about to exit the house and head right into danger, Jason called a sudden halt. Something in his demeanor grabbed everyone's attention and he looked pointedly at Tommy. "We should go in from behind."

Tommy wasn't about to argue that suggestion - it made tactical sense.

Jason's gaze skirted away, landing on the petite brunette slightly off to the side and reached out to place his hand on her shoulder - both lending and receiving silent support. "Tommy and I can circle around the other way if you can keep him distracted. By going out the front and sending you out with the others so they can get to the Jeep - it should work. We can grab Kat before Goldar will know what hit him."

"Good idea."

"Are you up for another fight?" Jason's concern was pitched low so only Tommy and she caught it.

Not wanting to disappoint anyone, Kimberly fought back the terror that was ever present. The knowledge that the next fight, the next time might be the one where Goldar succeeded in dragging her back to Lord Zedd - or stealing her himself - was almost overwhelming. Shuddering, she closed her mind from the awful possibility, knowing both Jason _and_ Tommy were waiting for her answer. She managed a half smile and nodded. "I don't have much of a choice, do I?"

"Kim-"

Shrugging his hand away, she shook her head and started forward before her courage failed her. "Let's do this."

Tommy watched as Kimberly led the four young former rangers and Haley outside, turning to face Jason with a faint grin. "It'll be just like old times, huh?"

"Yeah." Jason slanted the former white ranger an unreadable look. "Just remember you said that."

* * *

Leading the way through the front door, Kimberly kept low as she darted across the desk just outside of Goldar's line of sight. It took her a couple of deep breaths, but the knowledge that Katherine was depending on her buoyed her spirits. She refused to leave her friend in that twisted creature's clutches. Using the element of surprise, Kimberly outstretched her arms and moved into her fighting stance. Her gaze narrowed on the golden monster that stood waiting by the Jeep - and the struggling woman in his grasp.

"Not so fast!" Yelling, Kimberly motioned for the other rangers to move from the deck, behind her. Modulating her tone, she pitched it so only the other former rangers would hear. "Stay behind me, once the Jeep is free, get the hell out of here."

They didn't answer, but Kimberly knew they'd comply.

"Oh, some more powerless rangers we can capture! Perfect!" Goldar roared as he held Katherine in his grip.

"Kimberly!" Katherine choked out as she stretched out her hand, reaching for help.

Adrenaline rushed through Kimberly's system, drowning out the fear and lending her strength. "Hold on, Kat; I'll help you!"

Completely missing the fact that - once again - Psycho Pink was absent, Kimberly ran forward and began somersaulting her way to Goldar. The golden monster shot bolts of energy her way - stunning bolts to any former power ranger - in an attempt to strike her down. Nimbly dodging the blasts, Kimberly increased her speed. On her final flip, she jumped into the air and kicked out at the side if his head as Katherine ducked.

"Ki-_yah_!"

Goldar staggered under the blow, unable to avoid it as Kimberly regained her feet and tried to force his arms apart so she could free Katherine. Pulling and tugging at him to get him away from the Jeep, she drew him to the side avoiding the way he attempted to kick or strike her. For someone of her natural agility against an encumbered opponent, it wasn't overly difficult.

Yet, Goldar didn't seem to notice. "Did you miss me so much you have to stay so close, Kimmie? I can show you a better time than Lord Zedd!"

Kimberly shuddered, mentally shying away from the closed part of her mind where _that _resided and lashed out with a snap kick to his side as she noted the distance from the Jeep. Almost... there! She side stepped and dove to the ground, flipping, as Jason and Tommy ran at Goldar from behind.

"UH-_YAH_!" They yelled in unison as they thrust their fists into his wings, pulling them back and causing him to lose his hold on Katherine.

The former dino rangers sprinted for the Jeep as Katherine rolled, striking the ground hard. Regaining her feet in time to turn and face her rescuers, only Kimberly noted the look of utter shock - and delight - on the other former pink ranger's face. Her disbelieving shout was laced with joy. "_Jason_!"

Kimberly grabbed Katherine's arm as she pulled her out of the way from the moving Jeep. She saw all four former rangers and Haley, safely secured and moving fast, just as instructed.

"Come on!" Dragging Katherine behind her, she ran for the forest; her main objective was to keep Katherine safe. Even having trusted the mantle of the pink powers to her years ago, Katherine had no idea what she was up against. They drove further into the woods, Kimberly stopping abruptly behind a blind and turned to face her. "Stay here."

"No! I have to help Jason." Katherine stood her ground until Kimberly shoved her lightly into a tree. "You're helping all of us by staying out of danger! Just trust me."

Katherine looked about to protest further but Kimberly shook her head, pinning the tall blonde to the tree. "This goes beyond you, me or Jason, Kat. I won't let anything happen to him."

Jason swung his fist into Goldar's armor and dragged him to the ground, kicking him away with his leg as Katherine went sprawling. "Stay away from her!"

He didn't know if Zedd had gotten to Kat or not but he had to survive this battle. They all did.

Tommy lost his grip on Goldar's wing as Jason took the monster down with a vicious force, far more brutal that he'd been in the past and a hidden note in his voice gave Tommy pause. Since when had Jason _ever _been that concerned about Kat? As he moved in to help, Tommy was sent sprawling towards a nearby tree by a kick from behind.

"What the-!"

Only his reflexes saved him from a face plant into the bark and he spun - right into the palm of Psycho Pink's hand. Her hand connected with his forehead and - being a Psycho Ranger - her power activated. Instead of Pink lights coming out of Tommy, black waves were moving from Pink's arm, into his mind - the color of his last incarnation as a Ranger.

"Ah...let me go!" He reached for her hand - or rather tried to, and found he was paralyzed by her hold. It explained everything about how Kim had been unable to fight back with frightening clarity – and just how many times she'd have been through this to even _try _and move. That thought alone was terrifying. Fragments of memories flashed through his mind as his eyes slid shut of their own accord. A painful groan escaped his lips as he collapsed to the ground, struggling mentally against the hold on his mind and Pink's hand never leaving his head.

"Nn..no..."

He never stood a chance.

"Time for you to remember!" The mechanically voice laughed as Psycho Pink delved into his mind and - finding the memories he least wished to remember - brought them back to life...

_"Tommy!"_

_He knew that voice, he knew that voice well, in fact, it had been the voice that first welcomed him to Angel Grove - the first voice that had made him smile... and one he'd wanted to know better. Yet, despite the fact that deep within him he wanted nothing more than to turn towards her, his body remained impassively immobile, ignoring her. Whatever was in his locker completely absorbed him and the sickening knowledge of what he was seeing filled him._

_This was the thing of nightmares – his time as Rita's Green Ranger. It was a time when Kimberly had tried to befriend him and he'd done nothing but shut her down time after time despite everything inside him screaming he was a fool. He'd been powerless against Rita's enchantment, stuck behind a wall of glass as he'd watched himself crush her._

_Twisting inside his gut was the same butterflies he'd always felt around her back then, but Rita's spell nullified the nervousness, channeling it into indifference, and the agony of being a prisoner inside himself as he watched Kimberly's attempts – and his own cold shoulder._

"_Tommy?"_

_He hadn't seen it consciously the last time, but this time he did. He caught the flash of hurt in her gaze, the way she licked her lips and nervously shifted her grip on her bag, hitching it up over her should before trying again. _

"_So what happened to you, um, the other day after school? I thought we were gonna meet."_

_He screamed at himself as the folder in his hands closed with a snap, knowing it would do little good, and knowing there was nothing he could do to ease the sting of the tone he was about to use. The mental flinch at his own cold and curt tone didn't show on his features. "Something came up."_

"_Oh." Kimberly seemed to deflate behind him, but amazingly she didn't go away as he'd expected her to. Not then and not in his memories. Only this time he noted this he didn't before – maybe because he was looking back on the scene with twelve years of memories – and things he never would have seen at the time. Her posture was determined despite his rebuke. "You know, I just got kinda worried.."_

_Rounding on her, his tone turned patronizing and deliberately hurtful. "Hey. I'm a big boy, Kimberly. I don't need you to worry about me."_

_Hurt raced through her expressive brown eyes, pain he'd failed to notice at the time and ripped through him like a serrated blade. It wasn't just the pain, it was the dying of something in her gaze, the way her hope seemed to fade and shrivel… as if he'd reached in and crushed it in his fist._

"_Is something wrong? 'Cos you're totally acting like-"_

"_Like what?"_

_She reared back as he snapped at her. "Like you're upset with me?"_

"_Has it ever occurred to you that I might have other things on my mind? Newsflash, Kimberly: you are not the centre of everyone's universe."_

"_Well, excuse me for living!"_

Pain flared through his mind as the scene cut away, his brain pushing Psycho Pink further, beyond that memory to one that held almost as much shame.

"_Tommy… Tommy I know… I know you're the Green Ranger."_

_Kimberly's concerned tone echoed through his mind now as it had then, only this time he knew two things. One - the outcome and two - he had been brainwashed at the time. It still didn't dull the sting of rejecting her offer of help - or knowing he'd reject her now as he had then. _

_Under Rita's spell or not, he'd been a fool. A fool who'd been unable to acknowledge or see Kimberly's desperation to help him, her yearning to be his friend if nothing more – her frantic _need _to break Rita's spell and turn him back into himself._

_The guilt of knowing he'd been an idiot, despite being Rita's prisoner, was something that still ate at him. Their relationship had started off with him attempting to hurt her. Hurting her both physically – during Ranger battles – and mentally through his harsh words. Spell or not, it was only of his most secret shames… and one he'd never understood._

"_Well then, Pink Ranger…You should also know that you and the other Power Rangers will soon be destroyed."_

"A little attached to miss pink, were we?" Psycho Pink's laughter echoed on the edges of Tommy's memories as they continued to play back some of the happiest - but most cutting - of his recollections.

"_We miss you."_

"_Yeah, well, you guys were a team long before I showed up. It'll all be back to normal before long._

"I _miss you."_

_The look on Kimberly's face as she'd sought him out had been priceless. Hopeful and yet hurt - and he'd been nervous despite his katas. He'd watched her twist her fingers together anxiously, as if waiting for him to say something - but the words wouldn't come. Instead he'd chosen to take her hand in his, relishing the feel of her smooth skin under his thumb, and dared to lean in to kiss her._

_That she'd kissed him back - shyly but intently - had been like sunshine after the rain. His soul had been soothed and excited all at once and a part of him, the part of him that had fallen for her the first time they'd talked, had rejoiced. _

_This was the woman he would be with always. _

_This was the woman who would hold his heart. _

_This was the woman that would be at his side - forever._

It was like watching a movie but powerless to control the speed or scenes you viewed. The pleasure of the memory was so intense it was painful, drawing a gasp as he fought against it. He didn't need to be reminded of everything he'd once thought about Kim. Didn't need to see it or feel it again - but Psycho Pink was relentless, breaking down the barriers and making him remember...

"_Hey Tommy, a letter came for you. _

"_Yeah it's from Kimberly"_

"_Ah ha! Cool. Hey Adam, will you do me a favor and read it? I've got one more set to do."_

No… no! Not this memory… not this…

"_You got it."_

"_Thanks man."_

"_Dear Tommy, _

_Everything is going great here in Florida. _

_Coach Schmidt has me as ready as I'll ever be for the competition."_

"_Man, Kimberly is going to do great," the envy and pride in Rocky's tone were unmistakable._

"_What else does she say?" That was Tanya's curious question._

_Adam mumbled through it, recapturing his place and began reading again. ""Tommy, this is the hardest letter I've ever had to write. You've always been my best friend, and in some ways, you're like a brother. But something has happened here that I can't explain. It's both been wonderful and painful at the same time. _

_Tommy, I've met someone else."_

_A quiet, eerie calm settled over him as Adam read Kimberly's words, everything seeming to still into an unreal silence. Kimberly had sent him a "dear John" letter – it was inconceivable, so dreamlike he doubted his senses._

"_What?" Kat's incredulous question barely registered. "That can't be right."_

"_Tommy," Adam was hesitant. "Maybe you should finish this another time."_

_He couldn't. Not with a lead in like that. "Lemme see that." Turning he grabbed for the letter, feeling the dry parchment between his fingers, an anchor in the calm which threatened to burst into a terrifying tempest._

_  
"Tommy, you know I would never do anything to hurt you. But I feel like I've found the person that I belong with. He's wonderful, kind, and caring. You'd really like him. Everything would be perfect if it weren't for hurting you. But I have to follow my heart. I will always care about you, Tommy. _

_Please forgive me._

Kimberly"

_The sense of futility that settled over him was unreal. Nothing registered, nothing around him seemed real anymore. The agony that ripped through his being, tearing straight through his heart like the sword of darkness he'd once wielded under Rita's command was a sheering, cutting sensation not unlike the shredding of paper or food as it was torn apart in a blender. The torture of that pain was biting, so excruciating he didn't even feel it… wouldn't feel it until much, much later…_

"No!" Tommy shouted as the memories and feelings that he had been trying so hard to forget came flying back. He didn't need to relive that scene; he didn't need to be reminded of it - he'd never been able to forget - but he had been able to move beyond it.

Or so he'd thought. If he had, it wouldn't have had the power to hurt him still.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he registered the fact that Jason was struggling with Goldar and screaming for Kim...

* * *

"_Kim_!" Jason yelled as he grappled with Goldar. "Tommy needs your help!"

Struggling still with Kat, Kim looked back to see Psycho Pink attacking Tommy. Dark energy flowed about him and the pained expression on his face struck a chord deep within her that vibrated and seemed to shatter. Bolting from Katherine's side, she sprinted back towards the fight with a force she long forgotten.

Psycho Pink didn't appear to hear her coming as Kimberly pounded towards where she was absorbed in Tommy's memories - and making him relive them. From the look on Tommy's face, the memories were both agonizing and unbearable. The need to need hurry before more serious damage was done drove Kimberly into action.

"_Tommy_!" Screaming for him as she left her feet and lunged into the air, Kimberly aimed for Psycho Pink's chest. "Ki-_YAH_!"

Tackling the Psycho Ranger, Kimberly pushed through the hit with more force than she'd believed possible, driving the monstrosity back and away from Tommy.

"_Don't touch him_!"

They slammed into the ground with bruising force, Psycho Pink taking the brunt of the impact - an impact that left her partially dazed. Kimberly didn't notice as she threw punch after punch, kick after kick.

Psycho Pink was slow to recover, even more so with the abuse Kimberly continued to rain down from above, but shortly she was able to find her focus and stop a few of the attacks, then half and finally blocked the rest. Her immense strength countered Kimberly's lightning strikes, turning them ineffective.

"Don't you want to know what he saw Pink Ranger?"

"Nothing you could say would interest me!"

Psycho Pink blocked another attack, moving to get back to her feet under Kimberly's continued assault. "Not even that the memories which pain him so are about you?"

"_Liar_!" Kimberly slammed both open palms into Psycho Pink's chest, staggering her and sending her back to one knee.

"Why lie when the truth is so much more interesting?"

"You wouldn't know truth if it hit you in the face."

"Ah, but that's all I unlock. I _feed_ off truth, Pink Ranger."

"You're a perversion, Psycho Pink!" Kimberly spat the words venomously. "A parasite."

"A parasite?" Psycho Pink struck back, forcing Kimberly to duck or be struck by her open palm in the head - and risk putting her in the same position as Tommy. "All I do is free the mind of the unnecessary blocks you puny humans place upon it. That his blocked memories all seem to include you is most intriguing. Lord Zedd-"

"Ki-_YAH_!" Kimberly spin kicked at the Psycho Ranger, cutting off whatever she'd been about to say. "Lord Zedd can rot in his Dark Dimension. You can't have Tommy!"

"You mean _this_ Tommy? The one that _lusts _after you even after all this time?" Psycho Pink's taunt was barbed, sliding home far more clenly than she'd ever anticipated and - to her surprise - had an effect she hadn't anticipated

"Enough! That's _ENOUGH_!" Kimberly screamed, kicking out at Psycho Pink's chest and sending her sprawling to the ground.

A small crack appeared in her chest plate from where Kimberly had kicked her, forcing the armor fractionally inwards. Stunned, Psycho Pink stared at Kimberly in shock.

Satisfied the Pink monstrosity was out of the fight for a few moments, Kimberly whirled and ran back to Tommy, crouching beside him. Her gaze roved from head to toe, concern chocking her – the need to touch him great – but an unconscious fear checked her hand.

"Tommy?"

He didn't look at her as he struggled to lift himself up on his elbows. Him emotions were ricocheting from one end of the spectrum to the other, the old desires, fears and needs he'd thought he'd long since moved beyond careening through his system. As they centered on Kimberly, he didn't trust himself to look at her and _not_ have her see them. She'd always been able to read him - maybe a little too well.

"Tommy?" Reaching out, she touched him without thinking and drew his gaze. Looking into his eyes, she tried to see if he was alright. When they'd been teenagers that was all she'd ever needed to do to believe that he would be fine; simply look into his eyes. What she saw was confusion, embarrassment and emotions that she couldn't - her mind _wouldn't _- understand. "Are you alright?"

Her silent plea went unanswered as Tommy stared back at her helplessly. Shaking from the intensity of the emotional recoil, his brain couldn't form the words she so obviously desired. The feel of her arm around his waist as she helped him stand was his undoing and her name slipped out without conscious thought.

"Kim..."

After experiencing the visions and emotions that he had been trying to forget, he wasn't sure he could say anymore. Everything was still too fresh, too _new _despite the fact it had all happened years ago. He took his chance, wrapping his arms about her tightly. She didn't fight him as he'd expected, but instead went willingly - if hesitantly - into his close embrace. Her head came to rest in the familiar position over his heart, as he placed his chin on the top of her head.

This was where he'd wanted her since she'd waltzed back into his life. He closed his eyes to relish the feel of having her - willingly - in his arms once more.

Katherine watched as Kimberly threw Psycho Pink away, silently cheering her friend and letting out a sharp cry as Kimberly turned back to Tommy. Her attention shifted from Tommy and Kim as Goldar struggled over to Psycho Pink to help her up. Jason stood, panting slightly, off to the side and she took the opportunity to look at him - just _look_ - to be sure he was free from harm.

Completely disregarding Kimberly's direction, she sprinted back towards the house, leaving the safety of the forest. The need to _feel_ he was alright pumped through her system "Jason!"

Jason turned as she neared, incredulity crossing his features as she jumped at him. He caught her on pure reflex, completely unprepared as she clung to him like death would come if she didn't. Her arms wrapped around his neck as her legs wrapped around his waist and threatened to unbalance him, her words a tearful - but joyful - cry.

"Jason! I...I thought I'd never see you again!"

His arms came up to hold her without conscious thought, one automatically stroking her hair. The reality of the situation took a minute to process as pure shock overtook Jason. Katherine had never lunged at him like that before! _What is she doing?_ The thought demanded an answer and he opened his mouth to ask, only to pause when he saw how upset she was.

Her eyes were red rimmed, blood shot and glistening in a face that was puffy from too much crying. Had Zedd gotten to her the way he'd gotten to Kimberly? Concern wiped away any other emotions, and his grip tightened fractionally on her in an attempt to offer wordless comfort. Katherine stared back at him, her eyes searching his for something.

Then, before he could say anything, she bracketed his face in her hands and captured his lips - forcing him into a passionate kiss.

Shocked, Jason could do little more than react - and before he could think - kissed her back.

Psycho Pink stood with Goldar's help, examining the crack in her armor. Fury closely followed - the thought that one of these puny former Rangers had dared to presume to judge her - to damage her - was all encompassing. "Let's finish this!" Summoning her bow, she fired several arrows at the distracted rangers.

None of them noticed, too absorbed in one another to defend themselves in time.

"_ENOUGH_!"

A strange voice echoed from a distance, but boomed around them all at the same time.

"_Ninjetti Crane_!"

Appearing in a blinding flash of light, a solitary figure stood on the edge of the battle field, a pink wave wrapping about it as the summoned abilities of the Pink Crane appeared in front of the arrows, stopping them all with an outstretch hand. The projectiles flew harmlessly into the sky, rebounding off a solid staff in the figure's hand, twirled once - expertly.

"This has gone on for far too long and ends now! Your evil shall no longer reign over these rangers."

* * *

Deep within the forest, two figures were running. Both clothed in dark brown cloaks with emblem strikes flowing throughout the fabric; one yellow, one black.

"We have to hurry!" The yellow one insisted, dodging left and right around trees.

"They're already there! Come on!" The black cloaked figure returned as they darted through the forest. Foliage blurred around them as they sped up, making a bee line for their target.

* * *

Kimberly's mesmerized state was interrupted as she was pulled away from Tommy's embrace by a large pink wave directed from Psycho Pink's hand. The pain lanced through her back as the energy burned through shirt and skin, hauling her back into Psycho Pink's embrace with an ear shattering scream

"She's mine!" Psycho Pink slammed both hands against Kimberly's head and began her ultimate drain wave - similar to Zedd's machine - but not nearly as powerful.

"No!" Kimberly shrieked as the power ripped through her skull, blood oozing from her nose to drip onto her shirt.

"_Move away from the Crane_!"

The figure that had stopped the arrows moved forward and tossed off their dark cloak, revealing the true Ninjetti Queen of Phados - Dulcea. She looked the same as when the Rangers had last seen her on Phados during their Ninjetti quest; unchanged by the ravages of time. Her buck skin clothing remained the same, the only difference a spot of light that caught the eye; on her belt six crystals shone their true colors.

"_I order you to stop_!"

Psycho Pink paid no attention to the new threat.

"Dulcea!" Tommy came out of his emotional overload with a snap, still reeling but more centered for having felt a reconnection with Kim. His gaze went to Psycho Pink as Kimberly shrieked and he took a step forward. "Let her go!"

"_Falcon_!"

Dulcea's commanding tone brokered no argument and Tommy reluctantly backed up several steps, his gaze never leaving Kimberly's agonized expression. Everything in him _screamed_ at him to do something, to take action, but Dulcea's order wasn't one he could fight.

Drawn from the ever tempting distraction of Katherine's kiss, Jason pulled himself away to look over her shoulder in time to see events unfolding. Despite Katherine's continued attempts to resume the kiss, he held her off and then, seeing Tommy move to stand with Dulcea - whom he'd never met but heard much about - he moved despite Katherine's assault to stand behind Dulcea and Tommy. With effort, he managed to untangle Katherine's legs from around his waist so she stood on her own, but she did not relinquish her hold on his person.

"_Power Daggers_!"

Tommy and Jason whirled at the familiar cry as two daggers, similar to the original Yellow Power Ranger's - but with no resident power - shot out from the yellow clad figure emerging from the woods. They flew true, arcing through the air and colliding with Psycho Pink's hands - forcing her away from Kimberly.

Psycho Pink's hold broken, Kimberly collapsed to her knees and held her head, unable to prevent the dry heave that accompanied the blackness and dizziness of the attack. The voice and the incredulity of the situation registered and she looked in the direction the daggers had come from. Despite the pain in her head, despite the pounding agony that flooded her system, she still couldn't contain her disbelieving cry.

"It can't be!"

Goldar, tired of these humans, stepped forward and held the sword above Kimberly's neck. "It's time to die, Kimmie!"

"No! _Kim_!" A voice cried out and the other figure ran into the battlefield, black clad from head to toe - the familiar voice also striking a chord.

"_Power Axe_!"

Again a weapon that was similar to the original Black Ranger's - but held no power - collided with Goldar's sword as the strange figure jumped into the fray. "Back away, monkey breath!"

"_This is enough_!"

Dulcea commanded was accompanied by the entire area being surrounded with pure white light. Goldar and Psycho Pink were thrown free of the brilliance, blasting them back and away, out of Dulcea's range. Lifting her hands, Dulcea teleported Jason, Tommy, Kimberly, Katherine, and the two mysterious figures, along with Billy - who was on his way from Stone Canyon - with her out and away from Earth.

Goldar and Psycho Pink collected themselves slowly from the battlefield. Sharing a look, they disappeared, leaving the carnage of Dr. Tommy Oliver's front driveway for Zedd's Dark Dimension.


	5. A Nightmare Unveiled, part one

_**S E M P E R F I**_

_Disclaimer_: Power Rangers does not belong to me, the use of the characters, and original ideas all belong to Saban and there respective partners. The plot for this story and the sub stories do belong to me however.

_Special Thanks_: Jade-Max

_Summary_: Intent on capturing all of the Rangers, an old evil has returned and Jason and Kim must face their own nightmares as they race to protect the plant one last time…

_Chapter Five_: A Nightmare Unveiled – _Part One__Written By_: Chrisangelo and Jade-Max

* * *

They'd been out on the boardwalk when Goldar had appeared out of nowhere, taking them by complete surprise. Jason had urged her to run, but Kimberly hadn't been about to leave him. There was no way she was leaving him to face the golden monster alone - especially not when Goldar was supposed to have been dead for months.

Without their powers, the fight had been embarrassingly short. Goldar had called up his minions as he threw Jason back into their arms. Kimberly had quickly followed and just as quickly they'd been taken, in broad daylight, from the Miami boardwalk to the world of darkness and mist Rita had favored - and now belonged to Lord Zedd.

None of it made any sense.

Lord Zedd was supposed to have been defeated, Rita having gone with him, and - disoriented and sore from the fight - Kimberly and Jason tumbled to the ground as they were dumped in the large cavern. Darkness encroached on all sides as they rolled with the tumble, landing together in the center of the room with an ominous greenish glow.

They skidded to a stop in a tangle of limbs, and Kimberly hastily pulled herself free, regaining her feet immediately as she twirled in place. "Where are we?"

Jason was slower regaining his feet. "This looks like Rita's Dark Dimension." His words were low, pitched so only she would hear. There was also a fear in his tone that Kimberly didn't miss. "It looks different then when I was last here."

"Dark Dimension?" Kimberly's voice echoed around them and she slapped her hand over her mouth before modulating her tone to a hiss. "Why would we be here? We're not Power Rangers anymore!"

Sharing a look that spoke volumes, they both acknowledged there were more questions than answers. With no any powers and no communicators, how were they supposed to escape?

"_Kim…"_Smoke swirled about the area and Kimberly spun as a sound echoed from somewhere to her right. "Who's there?" Silence greeted her query. "Did you hear that?"

Jason nodded - the voice had seemed familiar.

"_Kim_..." The faint call came again.

Turning her head, Kimberly looked around, attempting to penetrate the surrounding fog to see who was there. Moving forward in the direction she believed the call to have come from, she searched with the tips of her shoes. Jason was at her side, keeping an eye out around them for Goldar or more of his goons.

Confusion and dizziness threatened to overpower her and she was forced to take it slow - until something grabbed her ankle. Jason steadied her, only to let go as she collapsed to the ground instead of flipping away, trying to search beneath the curling, concealing smoke.

As she hit the ground, the impediment to her vision cleared and what she saw horrified her.

"Tommy?!" Kimberly cried out as she placed her hands on his chest and shook him. "Tommy!"

Burns marred his once perfect skin, his bare chest and arms sporting circular welts unlike anything she'd ever seen. The skin around them was dark, almost black and puffy with infection. A large gash in his side was newly sealed - but not healed. He looked haggard, emaciated, almost as if he'd been tortured or starved - but it wasn't a physical pain that was shadowed in his gaze.

It was the terror she saw there that caught her attention - not for himself but for her.

"Tommy, say something."

"Kim..."

"Tommy!" She clasped the hand he reached towards her. "What have they done to you?"

"Couldn't… save you… Beautiful."

She jerked as if slapped, the agony and fear in his words and gaze making her shiver. "I'm right here Tommy; you're scaring me."

White beams of light emanated from his body as he struggled to form the words to tell her. His expression turned intense and, somehow, he forced the words out. "Kim...you..."

Gripping his hand tighter, she could feel the substance starting to slip away.

"need...to..."

Horror engulfed her as she realized that Tommy was sliding from her grasp, his hand going from substantial to semi-substantial - her own squeezing his tightly in an attempt to hold him.

"escape..."

"Tommy?"

White energy beams of light were floating all around his body and when he finished speaking, his form beamed white and then all that was left of him was piles of white energy dust. The feel of it was gritty on her skin, slipping through her fingers as his hand disintegrated in hers. Unconsciously clenching her fingers about it, she reached for the pile blindly, trying to bring him back.

Everything had been in his gaze - regret most of all. Regret that he couldn't spare her the same fate.

"No! _TOMMY_!"

Collapsing to the ground on top of the pile of dust, Kimberly tried to gather it to her. "Tommy! No, Tommy, come back! Come _back_!"

"Kim!"

Jason's hand landed solidly on her quaking shoulders and she turned bleak eyes to him, tears pouring down her cheeks unheeded. "Make him come back, Jason!"

Fighting back his own tears, Jason hauled her into his arms and hugged her tightly. Words failed him - there was nothing he could say or do that would ease the void that had opened up within them. Kimberly's ragged cries echoed through the cavern as tears misted his eyes and she clung to him tightly.

"It won't help."

Kim's sob cut off mid-sound as she whirled, her eyes wide and fearful. "Trini?"

"Right here, Kim."

"I can't see you."

"To your left."

Jason and Kimberly turned, the mist parting to reveal a stone like slab along one wall which extended for many feet across the darkness. On it lay the former yellow ranger, a sickly tint to her normally vibrant skin. Trini Kwan managed a faint smile as she pushed herself up on her elbows and regarded Kimberly and Jason with haunted eyes.

"Welcome to hell."

_Winds ripped through the plateau as the former Rangers landed in a heap in roughly the same positions they'd left earth. Katherine still clung to Jason, Kimberly lay sprawled - alone and seemingly unconscious - several feet away, Tommy was beside Jason and Kat and Billy had appeared several feet beyond Kim. To their left, almost as if taking a stance, were the yellow and black clad figures that had rushed in to save Kimberly._was _that?"_

Dulcea was nowhere to be seen.

Tommy staggered to Kim's side, ignoring the other for the moment, and knelt beside her. Turning her over, he checked her vital signs. She was unconscious, just as he'd feared, the blood on her face drying in the breeze. He pulled her into his arms, cradling her against his chest and looked to his best friend.

"Jason, what

Silence greeted his question and Tommy turned to look at the former Red Ranger. Jason's gaze, however, wasn't on him. It was centered on the Yellow and Black robed figures, his absent hold on Kat seeming to be completely instinctual - everyone but Jason noted it. The former Red Ranger was pale under his tan, his gaze trying to penetrate the disguises before him as he answered Tommy's question. "That, bro, was what Kim and I saw in the first five minutes in Zedd's Dark Dimension before being hooked up to his new toys."

"Is that what Kim's seeing right now?"

The yellow clad individual spoke, her voice pitched low but obviously feminine. "It is. We went through something similar when Dulcea first brought us to help."

"Trini?" Jason's tone was incredulous. "But you died!"

The figure tugged her coverings from her head, revealing the intelligent visage of one Trini Kwan - livelier than the one in Kim's vision. "In our reality, Jason, you and Kim died."

"Then you're-"

"The Zack man." Zack tugged his head covering off, revealing a newly scarred visage. A puckered scar ran from his forehead, down over his left eye - but hadn't sealed it shut - to the top of his cheek bone. "Hey bro."

_"Why can we see what Kim's seeing now?" Tommy asked, bringing them back on topic. "We couldn't see what she was seeing when Psycho Pink pulled these memories from her before."_"Trini?" Kimberly rushed to her side, clutching the other woman's hands. "Tommy... he's... he's..." Kim hiccupped, unable to voice the grim reality, to face it. Tommy couldn't be gone, he just couldn't be!

"Because, my Falcon," Dulcea told him succinctly, appearing on the edge of the plateau. "You must understand what the wounds are to be able to heal them - and the Crane's scars are many. Watch... and remember..."

* * *

Trini pushed herself to a sitting position on the slab and pulled Kimberly into her arms. "My God Kim - we thought you were dead!"

"I'm not! I'm not, but Tommy-" His name came out strangled as if something had suddenly hit her. "He thought I was dead?"

The former yellow Ranger nodded as Kimberly pulled away with horror written all over her visage. "Oh God - did he give up because he thought I was dead?"

"I doubt it."

They turned to find Zack limping towards them from the mists - where he embraced Kimberly tightly before turning her back over to Trini's embrace. "Jason - Kim. I wish I could say it's good to see you, but..."

"What is this place - Zedd's Dark Dimension?" Jason queried, getting identical nods from his friends in return. "Why are we here?"

"You'll find out soon enough when they strap you to it."

"It?"

"Zedd's new toy." Zack's tone was grim. "It's what killed Tommy."

Kimberly let out a muffled shriek, clutching Trini tightly as if to deny the reality of the situation. "He can't be dead, he just can't be!"

"Kim..." Zack placed one hand on her shoulder. "Was there a pile of dust?"

"What of it?" Jason pulled himself up onto the slab with Trini, helping her hold Kimberly upright as the gymnast didn't seem to be able to support herself. She'd sagged into their embraces, weeping soundlessly.

"What color was it?"

"White." Jason's brow furrowed. "White... as in, White Tiger?"

Zack nodded. "Zedd's collecting that dust. We don't know why yet, but we do know it's all that's left of us when we die..."

_As the Rangers "watched", the image faded and swirled, panning away to a series of kaleidoscopic collages. Jason on a table similar to where Tommy had found Kimberly during her power drain once upon a time. Kimberly on a similar contraption with Trini and Zack similarly bound. They struggled against restrains that were a new addition, the smell of burning flesh permeating the air even as their screams tore the silence to shreds._

The focus suddenly shifted and they saw what appeared to be Tommy appear from the surrounding mists - which was impossible because they'd all seen him die.

_Jason's expression hardened as they watched, his grip on Kat tightening. She placed a soothing hand over his heart, seeming to understand what was about to happen next and offering what wordless comfort she could.  
_Screams echoed from within the dark caverns of mist - trembling cries soon following from each of the captive rangers. The machines were not only draining their powers but everytime one would try to escape - Jason in particular - the machine would amplify the drain with a surge of with electricity. It flowed through their bodies, shocking them beyond belief and rendering them temporarily unable to control their limbs.

* * *

Blood drowned what little was left of Jason's shirt, the connections from the hub having bit into his skin when he'd violently opposed being strapped to it. He'd fought their captor far harder than any of them and his wounds were still fresh. From the bruises to the cuts and tears across tender flesh, he looked like a side of beef that had been tenderized.

It hadn't stopped him and as a consequence, his restraints were more numerous and done far tighter than the others. A strap across his chest - a restraint the others lacked - made breathing deeply impossible. It was so tight his screams were left short - causing an endless scream that faded into silence as he gasped for breath.

Even after hours of trying, Jason's mind couldn't fathom that it was impossible to escape. The will to escape, protect, and save his friends was the only thing he accepted - his drive to survive. It was the only thing that mattered.

"Jason, _please_!"

Having already been through several days of the torture, Trini could not bear to see one of her best friends killing themselves for nothing. "You're not helping anyone! Just stop, Jason!" Tears formed in her eyes as she rested back against the machine, yellow beams of light leaving her body.

"I have to get _us_ out of here..." Panting and still thrashing against the restraints, Jason's attention on his current plan was diverted to the gasp that came from Kimberly.

"_Tommy_!"

The impossible was apparent, standing right in front of the four machines.

"_Kim_..."

Tommy's body was still in the state it was before he transformed into white dust; black burns and welts covering his chest. Open wounds were still exposed as the crimson blood trickled down his chest. His eyes were focused on Kimberly with a startling intensity that had never been there before.

"_Help me_..."

Kimberly shot up, heedless of the fact she was restrained, in an attempt to try and help. The only thought in her mind was to run to him and try to do as he asked. Tommy _needed_ her and was asking for her help - she couldn't _not_ try.

The restraints flared, a whirring noise emitting from the machine and Kimberly screamed as her movements spurred the machine into reacting. The pink waves had been moving slowly from her body, only to increase in speed as she struggled. Electricity arced through her system as the restrain belt cut against her skin.

"Kim!" Three voices echoed around her, almost begging her to desist.

With everything that had happened, the impossibility of the situation made the improbable feasible - was it credible Tommy's death had been an illusion? Despite witnessing his death, could Zedd have set this reoccurring series of tortures as a way to try and break them? Was Tommy really alive and at the mercy of their foe? The other former rangers weren't sure but any guess was good as theirs.

"Please..._Beautiful_..."

Gritting her teeth, and clasping the restraining belt, Kimberly attempted to lift it away from her. "Hang on, Tommy!" Hearing the nickname made her spirit thrive with an immutable hope. "I'm coming." She whispered and tried once again - only to fail; horribly.

The dark misted cavern illuminated moments later with the blue-white light of the lightning bolts that arced from Kimberly's restraints.

Like moths to the flame; Jason, Trini, and Zack instinctively rose to try and aid her, but the machines triggered just like they had with Kimberly's, and soon the room was drowned out with lights and screams - the image of Tommy, fading back into white dust.

Kimberly's anguished cry had nothing to do with the physical pain she was enduring and everything to do with having seen him die. "No, _Tommy_!"

_

* * *

_

The images of the visions faded, focusing on Kimberly. She continued to struggle, despite the obvious pain that was being inflicted on her frail and tortured body. The focus and determination in her eyes was enough to give the observers chills. She never gave up, her jaw locked against the pain, blood running freely across her hips where she'd been able to shove the restraining belt - continuing to struggle even as the electricity made her hair smoke and her skin began to take on a darker hue.

_Only when a particularly powerful shock rendered her unconscious did the image fade completely - and even then her body struggled, as if aware of her desire to be free._seeing _it inflicted and how their friends had fought against it was one thing. To have endured it - to even consider enduring it - was beyond the scope of their imaginations._

As the image dissolved, Billy and Tommy became aware of the stoic silence of the other four. Watching the horror,

_  
Tommy pulled his attention from Kim's memories with difficulty, his heart aching for his friends, his hands unconsciously having clenched with the plight of their suffering. Turning his attention back to the still unconscious woman in his arms, he considered what he had seen and how she'd endured it to the way she was now._

_Watching as her hope was stripped away had been unbearable. Even now, when she seemed so scared - as if all hope was lost - it burned, twisting inside him like a brand to leave a festering sore.._ _- seeing her like this._

He hated - no despised

Her normal confident, fierce, head strong, and highly independent nature had been silenced by this fragile, decrepit, vulnerable being. Somewhere within her was the fighter he continued to see in her memories - but that fighter only surfaced now in times of adversity. Kimberly as he'd known her was in hiding, muffled by the fears and events that had transpired - smothered by ten years of despair

_How she and the others had been able to resist was unfathomable. _

_Hoping she'd wake, terrified she wouldn't, Tommy slowly reached down and brushed her cheek with the tips of his fingers. She remained comatose, locked within the memories the others had to see to understand and to help heal. Locked within her mind as she had been for years on end - a prison of unending pain._

_Shifting his grip, Tommy eased back into a sitting position, using his legs to brace Kimberly against his chest as he pulled her close once more and buried his face in the fall of her hair. Tears matted the chestnut locks - but he didn't notice as he whispered the apology he knew would never be enough. Never nearly enough when he'd failed her so completely and Zedd had used her feelings for him against her._Divine and perfect were words that Zedd used to describe his ultimate machine, but they lacked one key item that would classify them as truly perfect; time. The machines took weeks before they would absorb enough energy to destroy whatever ranger they were programmed to work on.

"I'm sorry, Kim - so sorry I wasn't there..."

* * *

Zedd couldn't let the rangers die before he had enough energy or his purpose would be defeated. That in mind, the rangers were released from their table-top prisons and given a period of time to regain their strength and replenish their health every now and again.

It was on one of these rare occasions, are a week long session with the hubs, that the four friends found themselves back in the room where Jason and Kimberly had landed almost a month prior. Exhausted, they'd done little more than sleep for the first day of their release. As the days passed, their strength returned as did their focus and their drive.

Jason paced back and forth like the trapped animal he was as Zack was trying to work the feeling back into his extremities. Each session on the hubs resulted in a loss of feeling for him and each time it was slower to return.

Trini had curled up with Kimberly, the girls clinging together as Kimberly struggled with the events that continued to transpire. Tommy's initial death upon their arrival and his subsequent disappearing act had left a damaging imprint on the brunette. After everything they had already been through, losing Tommy twice was destroying Kimberly. Trini rubbed her back, offering what comfort she could, looking to the former Red Ranger for guidance. "Jase... we have to get out of here." Her exhaustion was obvious and while she and Zack had been through this longer, but they all felt the effects.

"Make Tommy come back." Kimberly pleaded into Trini's shoulder as the former yellow ranger's weak arms steadied around her best friend's back.

"Kim..." Trini hugged her fiercely, tear lines clearly visible on wan cheeks. "Kim, he's gone."

"He can't be; I need him!"

Zack bit his bottom lip as he rubbed out the many torn muscles in his arms. "Jase...there's no escape, is there?"

Before Jason could consider having another look, the inexplicable happened again. Tommy appeared from the mist, but unlike the previous two times, he was seemingly healed. "_Kim_..."

Once again deciding to single her out from the others, Tommy stepped forward - shirtless - approaching her slowly.

"Tommy!" The twice-broken heart seemed to mend with the voice that was Tommy, which propelled Kimberly out of Trini's embrace. Despite everything she'd endured, Tommy's presence renewed her as rest hadn't. Life seemed to well within her as she lept into Tommy's inviting arms. Her laughter was relieved and joyous as Tommy's arms enfolded her against his chest where she belonged, the tears streaming from her eyes now longer agonized but elated. "I knew it, I just knew it!"

Relieved confusion was echoed on the expression of the other three Rangers. Either Tommy had escaped death and his murder had been an illusion - or the Tommy before them was an illusion. Kimberly didn't seem to notice their looks as she placed her head against Tommy's chest.

But it was Jason who spoke for them all and drew her attention. "Bro...you have to stop doing that." He said with almost a hint of laughter in his voice, the only that would offer any warmness to his strained mind. "What is this, another one of Zedd's tricks?"

Kimberly remained where she was. "I don't care what Jason says; you're here now and everything's going to be okay."

"_Why didn't you save me_?"

Shock rippled through the group with Tommy's accusatory question, Kimberly's head coming up with a snap to search his strained expression. It wasn't something she did consciously, not was easing her grip on him, as something about the embrace registered in her mind as being not quite right. "What do you mean?"

"You could have saved me!" Tommy yelled and pushed Kimberly roughly out of his arms and to the ground. The look in his eyes made her think back to when he'd been under Rita's control as the evil Green Ranger. They were filled with a cold and trembling darkness - not the eyes of the man she loved.

"Hey!"

Jason and Zack ran forward and shoved Tommy back, away from Kimberly. The aggression that had come from being held captive drove their senses beyond the norm and Tommy stumbled when pushed. "What's with you?" Jason shouted as he knelt to help Kim up.

"_It's your fault..._"

"What-?"

The illusion dissolved before them once more, the same horrific effect as Tommy disappeared. More white dust rained towards the ground and prompted a scream from the former pink ranger. It was too much in too short a time.

"No! _Tommy_!" Kimberly lunged for the disappearing image, her fingers closing about nothing even as Jason wrapped his arms about her waist and caught her as she collapsed. Crying and screaming as her heart broke once again, she made no move to quell them or brush away the tears that streamed down her face.

_"_Come back..."

_

* * *

_

"Please come back... I love you, Tommy."

Heads turned when they heard Kimberly's desolate words, Tommy's lifting from the pillow that was the top of her head. A quick check showed that Kimerbly was still unconscious, apparently perfectly content to remain in that state despite the memories. She twitched, thrashing about a little as one hand feebly reached for something it couldn't grasp and Tommy slid his hand into hers, knowing she was reaching for him. Her hand closed convulsively around his, gripping with a frightening intensity. While they might be watching what she was remembering, Kimberly was reliving the whole experience - and knew it.

_And it was the first time any of them had heard anything from her, since before their arrival - since before Dulcea had insisted they share in what had happened to her and the other Rangers._

_Kimberly's words were something Tommy had long since given up hope of ever hearing and it took a long minute after they echoed across the plateau for them to truly register. When they did, he felt himself pale, beginning to tremble as tears burned behind his eyes. There was no point in denying them escape - it was every better focused on the woman in his arms._

_Wondering, he slowly touched her cheek and watched as her tragic, torn face seemed to somehow sooth and settle, as if she was simply in a deep sleep. Was this look the same one she'd worn when she'd been held in the Dark Dimension? A look that showed nothing to live for, no hope at all? He'd never doubted that he was important to her, but the centre of her life? The driving force, a very reason to live? The one thing out of any that meant the most to her - was him?_

As if reading Tommy's thoughts, Zack stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing. "You were everything to her, man. Everything. Even in our reality, you always came fist for her." He looked at Dulcea, the raw emotion in his voice making the other flinch. "How much more do they have to see?"

"Enough for everything to be clear. They won't be open until all is revealed."

* * *

Hours merged into days as days merged into weeks and the captivity of the Rangers continued. Strapped to the hubs for a week and released for a week, their strength was slowly ebbing despite the continued rest periods in between.

As far as tortures went, the false hope of being free of the machines was almost as damaging as Tommy's continued reappearances. After the last time, he'd appeared only once more - but he'd done nothing but stare silently at them as they'd been strapped to the hubs. He'd still been bare chested - but all of his injuries had vanished. Nothing, not Kimberly's continued cries for him, nor the other's attempts to reach him, had made him speak. He'd simply stood there, a silent statue, watching - before once more dissolving into white powder.

The weeks turned into a month when Kimberly first noticed that the machinery which sent the electrical deterrent through their restraints seemed to be failing on her machine. It wasn't that it no longer worked, or that she'd grown immune to the pain, it was simply that the restraints themselves no longer held the same charge.

The tone of her screams when she made to move never changed and a plan had hatched in the former Pink Ranger's mind. If she could get free and do it in such a fashion it wasn't obvious she was free, she would be able to loose the others - and together they could locate Tommy. Despite what had happened, her mind had resolved that everything they'd seen thus far of Tommy had been an illusion.

That she'd held him, smelled his scent, tasted his fear and despair had ceased to matter and she'd convinced herself that he was somewhere nearby waiting for their help.

It was how, in the hours before they were to be strapped down to the hubs once more, she was lured from the swirling mists that had been their prison for almost five weeks.

Jason, Zack and Trini were sleeping, leaving Kimberly alone with her thoughts and during those troubled thoughts she hashed out her plan for finding Tommy and freeing him. Tonight was their last night of freedom before being strapped in once more - it meant she'd have to act almost as soon as the restraints were in place. It was the time when the energies that flowed through the restraints were at their lowest and - in her case - almost non existent. She'd just finished piecing the plan together, when a sound had her looking up to find its source.

Water. Dripping water.

Curious, she rose to her feet, following the sound through the mists. She didn't notice as they closed in behind her, obliterating her friends from view. It was only when the sound stopped and a doorway came into view that she realized where she was. This was the door through which they were taken and strapped to the hubs.

Shivering, she wrapped her arms about herself - and jumped as another pair suddenly wrapped about her from behind. "Shh."

"T-Tommy?"

He kissed her temple. "You were expecting someone else?"

Tears brimmed in her eyes. "I wasn't... I didn't... you said-"

"It was one of Zedd's tricks." His lips traced down over the curve of her temple and across her cheek. "It wasn't me."

"Oh... Tommy!" Turning in his arms, she burrowed into his chest, relishing the feel of his arms about her. "I thought... I thought I'd lost you for good."

He held her for a long minute, before lifting one hand and cupping her face in it, brushing her tears away with the pad of his thumb. "Never. I'll always be here, Kim."

Kimberly's hands slid up his bare chest, a distant part of her mind wondering why he never wore a shirt anymore as the immediate part of her dismissed it. He was here - nothing else mattered. His muscles bunched and flexed under her palms as they skimmed upwards, sliding about the back of his neck. "Why do you-?"

Whatever she'd been about to ask was lost in the fierceness of his sudden kiss as his lips slanted forcefully across hers.

_This is wrong!_

Her body stiffened, even as her mind clamored for her to remember... _something_. Only to have that clamoring die away, smothered by a lethargy that didn't normally accompany Tommy's kisses - on the contrary, usually he was so shy, his kisses were very gentle. Barring of course the final kiss he'd given her at Christmas and before she'd left to go back to Florida.

This was different, a possessive, almost branding kind of kiss - and nothing like what she'd shared with Tommy before. Despite it, she had no desire to be anywhere else then where she was - as if someone or something had taken a hold of her mind and decided he could do no wrong.

* * *

"_That's not me."_

_The observation dropped into the silence as the vision continued, Kimberly clinging to the phantom that wore Tommy's face like a life line. Yet there was something in her posture that warned Tommy that Kimberly _knew _she wasn't kissing him. That she _knew _it was an illusion. Still, she didn't pull back or attempt to end the kiss as far as the others could see and Tommy was eventually forced to look away, his jaw locking against the hurt that kiss caused._

_Kimberly had thought she'd been kissing him initially - her words and actions had made that plain - but once she'd actually accepted the kiss, something had changed. If it was the bruising grip the impostor had on her upper arm, or perhaps the unnatural stillness of Kim's posture, he didn't know._

_She'd joined in that kiss as a willing participant and been forced to endure it when he'd known she'd have normally turned away._

"_Are you so certain, Falcon?"_

"_I would never do that to Kim," raw emotion made his voice shake. "She's not participating in that kiss, Dulcea - she's on the receiving end of it; and she doesn't want to be."_

_The vision seemed to have stuck on the scene and Tommy was forced to look back and analyze it to justify his response. "Kimberly's being controlled."_

_Jason and the others exchanged looks, shifting uncomfortably. "Controlled, bro? How? She thought she was kissing you - surely that's not so strange."_

_Tommy met Jason's gaze head on and arched his eyebrows. "You can't honestly tell me, as well as you know her, that you don't recognize the signs of a displeased Kim?"_

_Jason took another critical look at the scene - and his jaw suddenly locked. "She's not resisting."_

"_But she's not participating either." Tommy rubbed his hand over Kimberly's back only to bury it in her hair to keep himself grounded. Fury was building within him with every scene he witnessed, every miscarriage and misuse of his face and body. The image in Kim's memory was likely tainted in some ways by her desire that this individual _was _him, but that aside - Tommy knew with absolute certainty it wasn't._

_And it infuriated him that someone - he was starting to suspect who - had toyed with her in such a fashion._

_"The arch of her back, the tense muscles - even the way her head is slightly tilted; everything in her posture is screaming displeasure - but she's just standing there." Tommy got the words out with difficulty. "Kim's always been a more than willing partner in any kiss we shared - this..." his tone faltered. "This is assault."_

* * *

The encounter with Tommy had left Kimberly's mind muddled and confused and she walked back to her friends in a daze. They were awake when she returned, talking in low tones, but she caught Tommy's name and her own and a deep thread of concern about her being duped by illusions and magic.

Her head knew they had a right to be concerned - at least it did in the deepest most private and untouched sections of her mind - but her heart thought them blatantly unfair. Tommy was... well Tommy and he'd never do anything to hurt her. Even that last kiss, despite the strangeness of it all... he was still Tommy.

"It doesn't matter," Kimberly murmured to herself. "Tommy would never hurt me, it's just this place. Whatever Zedd is doing to him is making him act funny - it can't be easy being back here and no longer under Rita's spell."

Her friends didn't hear her approach, nor her soft litany of self-reassurances as she built up her confidence in Tommy once more. "And so what if he kissed me differently? Our relationship's always evolving and changing, it's not like he still kisses me the same way he did the first time. Okay so the shirtless thing _all _the time is a little strange, but it's not like any of us have much clothing left after everything we've been through so far - Jason's just about shirtless too."

Taking a few more steps, she could vaguely make out Trini mention something about escape and warning other non-active Rangers. "I just wish he'd tell me where they're keeping him and what they're doing to him - I wish I knew for sure he was going to be okay."

* * *

_"So that's how she did it."_

_"Did what?"_

_Jason shook his head. "We were trying to figure out how Kimberly had been so blind to Zedd's manipulations; she talked herself into believing them because she wouldn't accept that you had died, bro. Zedd used her worst fear against her."_

_What Jason didn't say was that the worst was yet to come._

_Billy, who was already at speed from everything that Jason and Kim had told him, pretty much knew the base of what they'd gone through. Of course the details were lacking, but now they were being revealed - and they were details that he could have done without. Out of six rangers, Tommy and he had been the ones to have escaped their fate - it was both a blessing and a curse_.

_As Kimberly's memories continued to play, he turned to the Ninjetti Queen. "How could Zordon let this happen, Dulcea? Wouldn't he have sensed this? Another Zedd - from another world?"_

"During the transformation of your powers, when the Command Center was no longer thought of, the alternate Lord Zedd was able to capture the Rangers. Zordon was kept away from any thoughts of danger. He kept watch over the minions of darkness, but was unable to with the reconstruction of the Power Chamber."

_"I don't understand," Jason looked to the others. "Even if Zordon didn't see it, we know he kept tabs on those of us who'd been Rangers. He should have known something had happened to us."_

_"Normally I would agree with you, Jason," Dulcea's tone held a compassion they hadn't expected. "However, Zordon was not omnipotent nor omniscient no matter how much he appeared to be - and Lord Zedd learned lessons in his timeline that the Lord Zedd in yours had not. The Lord Zedd you remember is a very different enemy than the one you encountered in his Dark Dimension."_

_Kimberly's whimper cut into whatever else Dulcea was going to say. The Ninjetti Queen stepped forward, moving through the ground until she stood in front of Tommy and Kim. Unexpectedly, she dropped to one knee so she was at Tommy's eye level, one hand going out to touch Kim's head softly. "Falcon."_

_Tommy turned his attention to her - though it was obvious to everyone he was almost completely focused on Kimberly and the traumas she continued to experience._

_"The Crane's scars are many." Dulcea reiterated softly as she looked at Tommy. "More than are visible and more than are known. She has been flightless for some time, grounded by circumstance and kept there by darkness."_

_"What happened, Dulcea?"_

_"Do you truly wish to know?"_

_No. No he didn't - and Tommy knew the answer was plain as day on his face, but he couldn't _not _know. If they were going to help Kim, he needed to understand everything that had happened, no matter how painful. Swallowing hard, he nodded decisively - once._

_Pushing to her feet, Dulcea looked down at how the Falcon cradled the fallen Crane protectively and spoke the words none of them wanted to hear. "The Crane's wings were forcefully clipped."_

_Billy's eyes widened after he deduced what Dulcea's cryptic words meant. "You mean...you mean...Kimberly was..." He stopped questioning if he should even say it, if he should even dare it. Jason's face was stony, as if to confirm his suspicion, and neither Trini nor Zack would meet his gaze. Tommy and Kat didn't appear to follow his line of thought - they rarely did - and Billy forced the word out as much for their understanding as his own. "Raped?"_


	6. A Nightmare Unveiled, part two

_**S E M P E R F I**_

**_Disclaimer_: **Power Rangers does not belong to me, the use of the characters, and original ideas all belong to Saban and there respective partners. The plot for this story and the sub stories do belong to me however.

**WARNING WARNING WARNING**: This chapter contains graphic descriptions of forced sexual situations – rape. This is a very dark chapter so please if you cannot handle the mentions of 'sex' then please do not read as this is mentions of 'rape'. You can simply push the back arrow on your internet explorer. ONLY FOR MATURE and CAPABLE READERS. **WARNING WARNING WARNING**.

_Special Thanks_: Jade-Max

_Summary_: Intent on capturing all of the Rangers, an old evil has returned and Jason and Kim must face their own nightmares as they race to protect the plant one last time…

_Chapter Six_: A Nightmare Unveiled – _part two__Written By_: Chrisangelo and Jade-Max

* * *

Kimberly didn't struggle for the first time since being strapped to the Transmogrifier Hub, instead she let the cloaked minions secure her in place, bunching her muscles as she did to prevent the ties from being placed too tightly. The creatures tying her down were drawn by Jason's struggles and she silently cheered him on as he fought being strapped down once more.

Each and every time he'd had to be dragged into the chamber. Each and every time he'd been beaten, bruised and bloodied - but this time Kim used it to her advantage. The creatures tying her down did so quickly and didn't notice as she shifted her body to prevent the ties being as restricting as the last times. They moved away to help secure Jason, and Kimberly allowed the tense muscles to relax.

Power hummed throughout the chamber, but hadn't yet been activated - and wouldn't be until all of the former Rangers were in place. It took seven of the minions to get Jason down on his hub and another two to secure the straps. Only once all of the straps were secure did they let go - and Jason reared off the table, blood already pooling on his abdomen.

Without the power on, he fought and kicked, catching one of the creatures in the face. Another was hit by his closed fist - and then power surged through his restraints and he yelled his agony to the ceiling as electricity ripped through his body.

It took several minutes for the creatures to leave the room, checking and re-checking Jason's binders before satisfied he couldn't escape. One by one they left, summoned away or simply drifting away - they'd long ago lost interest in the draining process.

Kimberly waited until the minions had left before beginning her own struggles against the restraints, the energy surges having seemed weaker of late as she fought to be free. Around her, the other former Rangers struggled against their own restraints, but their screams continued to assault her - whatever the reason, her restraints didn't cut as deep or cause such damaging shocks.

Jason stopped his own struggles to catch his breath, panting, and caught sight of what she was doing.

"Kim, don't."

Kimberly looked to where Jason continued to struggle against his charged restraints. "I'm almost free; hang in there."

"Don't! You'll kill yourself."

"And you won't?" The gymnast shot him a glare, twisting her wrist this way and that.

"I refuse to die in this place - it'd be undignified." His attempt at humor fell flat as another shock was caused by his writhing. "I'd never forgive myself if something happened to you."

"The hub is off." She didn't know why or how, but this was their chance. "Tommy must've shut it off."

"Tommy's dead, Kim."

"No!" Her vehement denial was accompanied with a grunt as she pulled one wrist free of the loosened restraint, ignoring the gash it left on her wrist and where blood welled to the surface. It was just one of many and if it was the price to pay for her freedom - for the chance to rescue Tommy and the others - she'd pay it. "He's not dead; he can't be."

"You're going to have to face facts," Trini's voice came from the opposite direction. "Whatever or whoever is goading you isn't Tommy!"

"You're wrong, both of you!" Kim freed her other wrist, managing to escape with only minor cuts and scrapes before working on her ankles. "You'll see. Once we're free from here, we'll find him and we can all escape together - it'll be just like old times."

"You can't bring him back with wishful thinking," Zack's insistence echoed the other's disbelief that the apparition who continued to appear to Kim was Tommy. "We've got to get out of here and warn the other former Rangers - if we don't, they'll become dust the same as Tommy."

Tears welled in Kimberly's eyes as she freed one and then her other of her ankles in quick succession. The rest of the restraints and electrodes popped off in seconds and she slid her feet over the side of the hub. A shudder raced through her as she saw the others, but one thing nagged at her. There were many stations in this room - eight to be exact - and with the four of them they were only half full.

_Where's Tommy?_

Doubt had crept into her mind over the last weeks as their captivity had dragged on, Tommy's infrequent appearances were the only thing saving her from the first memory of this awful place. Despite that, she couldn't banish the image of what he'd looked like as she'd held him - and he'd dissolved into dust. Even if it had simply been a horrible nightmare, it seemed surreal. It was reoccurring and haunted her dreams - almost as if to taunt her, to say that what she'd seen had been real - but she refused to believe it.

He was too stubborn to give in without a fight, too stubborn to die - he had to be. Tommy was alive; she couldn't believe otherwise. Still, he was a current Ranger - one of the only still in service - and if Zedd was collecting their energies, shouldn't he have been locked in with the rest of them? Or was there another room for active Rangers?

Dropping to the ground, she clutched the table for support, feeling weaker than she ever had before. Her life force had been steadily drained along with her powers over the course of their incarceration and it took a minute before she was able to stand on her own. Even the few minutes attached to the hub had been enough to drain most of whatever vitality this last week's recuperation had returned to her. When she was steadier on her feet, she made a bee-line for Jason.

He shook his head as she neared and smiled faintly. "Pink to the rescue, huh?"

"Former Pink." Kimberly quipped. "Didn't you know? We've retired."

"Doesn't feel like it."

Kimberly smiled wanly, pulling the plug on the hub he was strapped to. It wouldn't end the power drain - that power source was elsewhere - but it would kill the electrical resistance in his restraints. Working quickly, she loosened one of his wrists.

Jason stopped her as she made to finish pulling it off with a shake of his head. "I can handle it from here - get Trini and Zack."

Turning to do as he bid, the room suddenly spun off kilter as the magnitude of what they were attempting to do hit her. Dizzy, it took a moment for her to get her bearings once more. Kimberly darted across the room as quickly as her suddenly spinning head and wobbly legs would allow her. Trini came free quietly, nodding towards Zack as she had one hand to work with. Kimberly's plan was going off without a hitch as Zack's wrist started to come free when the sound of the door opening made her turn, holding her breath in suspense, her fingers pulling the last of Zack's restraints free without conscious thought.

A figure with dark long hair stood silhouetted in the doorway, its gaze on the table where Kim had been strapped. The build, the look, the way it held itself - everything was familiar and her heart leapt into her throat as she took a step towards him. She'd know that shadow anywhere. "Tommy?"

There was no answer forthcoming and she took another step towards it, trying to see within the glare.

"Don't Kim!" Jason struggled against his restraints - the one Kimberly had loosened having re-closed once she'd moved to help Trini and Zack. His blood helped lubricate his attempts at freedom - but it wasn't enough. "It's not Tommy!"

"Your Tommy is dead, Kimberly."

The voice that echoed through the room was sinister and familiar - the voice of their captor.

Kimberly didn't dare turn back to Zack, her hands clutching the hub on which he lay, breathing the name fearfully as something dark and unfamiliar slithered down her spine. "Lord Zedd."

The personification of evil stepped into the room - wearing Tommy's face.

"No." Inside, something crumbled, dying a slow death as Kimberly realized what had been happening, the word an agonized whisper of despair. "No!"

"That's right, Kimberly," Lord Zedd's voice informed her nastily - but coming from between Tommy's lips. "Your precious White Ranger is dead. I killed him just as I'll kill the rest of the Rangers both past and present."

"It was you." Kimberly's heartbroken whisper carried through the room despite the low volume. "All this time Tommy was really gone and you-" Her throat closed on her grief as she realized that every interaction she'd had with Tommy since they'd arrived in this horrible place had been a lie. All of it – except her first few moments when he'd died in her arms.

"That's right, Kimberly," Zedd's tone was a hissing caress and something in the way he said her name sent a shudder of revulsion and fear skating down her spine. She began to tremble as he finished the sibilant caress. "He can't stop me now - no one can."

"Run, Kim!"

Kimberly registered Jason's frantic order, her heart beating erratically in her chest as she considered everything that she'd been through, every emotion she'd felt since arriving in this nightmare – all because of Zedd. Tommy was dead - and Zedd had killed him. For what? For power - it didn't seem likely, not with the injuries Tommy had suffered. They far outstripped what the hubs were capable of. He'd been tortured, injured deliberately - and she understood it – but didn't understand why. She had to know. "Why the charade, Zedd?"

"Kimberly - run!"

"No!" She almost screamed the word at Zack, hearing his struggles to be free behind her, unable to take her gaze from Tommy's features. Features she knew better than her own and would never see again on the face of the man she'd loved. "I need to know. Why, Zedd? What was there to gain from it?"

"Why not?" Tommy's features shifted, turning colder, elongating into an aristocratically, perfectly symmetrical handsome face none of them recognized. Black hair, cropped short and close to the skull topped the perfection, red eyes glowing from slightly slanted sockets. "He had something I wanted and now... now the White Ranger is no more and you, Kimberly will be mine."

"Never." She backed away from Zedd, trying to put some distance between them as panic began to set in. Zedd was between her and the door and there were no hiding places in the room where he wouldn't reach her quickly. She was trapped, almost at his mercy - but she wasn't broken. Not yet. "I'd rather die."

"There are things worse than death." Lord Zedd's eyes flashed as his body continued to change with every stalking step he took towards her. The red melted away into flesh - human flesh - tinted with silver. A stylized "Z", his trademark, was emblazoned across his chest. His _bare_ chest. "Your precious Tommy learned this lesson well."

"What did you do to him?" Her only thought to keep him talking as she edged around, she couldn't help the level of interest the conversation had sparked within her. She would deal with Tommy's death later - for now she had to escape Zedd himself and self-preservation was first and foremost in her mind.

"I showed him his greatest failure." Zedd's upper body was now completely naked, the emblem on his chest visible as a tattoo that glittered in the faint light. The clothing he'd been wearing while masquerading as Tommy was beginning to melt away from his bottom half. "He was unable to protect you from the threat he perceived me to be – you've escaped me once, but I've learned from the last time, Kimberly - and you _will _be my Queen."

"_Run_, Kim - don't worry about us! Save yourself!"

"Yes, run," Zedd taunted her, his steps deliberately slow as he circled the slab upon which she'd been resting. His naked body reflected the light - and he did nothing to hide the physical effect her predicament was having on him. Lord Zedd was _enjoying_ this and his full erection showed them not just his intentions but his sadism. To Kimberly's way of thinking, he was insane. "But where would you run to when your precious Tommy is no more than a vial of white dust in my throne room? The White Ranger can no longer save you."

Kimberly moved to the side, keeping the table between her and Zedd only to shriek as he lunged for her, moving impossibly fast. Her scream as he caught her, driving her to the floor under his weight, echoed through the room. Rolling automatically with the hit – her Ranger training was too firmly ingrained not to – she was pulled to an abrupt halt by the grip Zedd had on her shoulders. Her feet landed squarely in his chest and she _pushed_, trying to dislodge him.

The sound of her struggles reverberated back to the others, and Jason reacted – violently. Heaving up against his restraints, the ones across his chest were strained to the limit and began to shriek in protest. "_Leave her alone_! Kim!"

Pushing back against Zedd, using her complete weight, Kimberly managed to dislodge one of his hands, only to force the other closed, his fingers digging into the tendons and muscles of her left arm. The pain made her scream again and Zedd pulled her roughly back to him, using his free hand to knock her feet aside and down.

"No! Let me go!"

"You are mine!" His grip was bruising, his fingers digging further into her flesh without care or concern. "There is nothing… nothing anyone can do to save you now!"

Kimberly shrieked as Zedd pressed her into the ground, his fingers shifting their hold as his greater weight held her pinned. Struggling, she attempted to throw him off, but Zedd's hold was too much; there was nothing she could do on her own – she wasn't strong enough. "Somebody help me!"

"_Kimberly_!"

Trini's desperate cry barely registered as Kimberly fought with the last of her fading energy, adrenaline coursing through her system. Attempting to kick him, he caught her foot, pushing it out and to the side as he laughed at her pitiful attempts, settling his erection intimately against her. Kimberly thrashed and screeched as his hands closed about her wrists with a vice-like intensity. She arched her back, attempting to use it to throw him off, but Zedd instead bent down and bit her breast through the material of her shirt, causing her to scream again.

"Get away from me!"

"_Kim_!"

"Shall I steal another kiss, Kimberly?" Zedd taunted, leaning down over her as he forced her back to the floor.

"Oh _God_, that was _you_." A sob caught in her throat, verging on hysterical. This was unreal – this couldn't be happening. His words had spurred her on, though, and she fought with renewed strength, desperate to get away from him. He made her feel unclean – and she now understood why kissing 'Tommy' had felt so wrong, why she'd wanted to pull away and run.

She understood too late.

Lord Zedd didn't seem to even notice her writing form, except for the way it brushed against his own, his throbbing sex a burning violation pressed intimately against her as his grin widened with her every move. "Fight me. That's it, _fight me_; you will make a fine Queen once we consummate our liaison."

"No... _NO_!"

_"Get away from her_!"

"Get off me!" Kimberly thrashed, but Zedd's grip was unrelenting, his free hand moving down her body as he tore her clothing from her one piece at a time. Her top - already shredded from her struggles with the hub - came free with barely a flick of his wrist. He left her bra, uninterested in foreplay, his hand moving down to the place between her legs. The moment he cupped her through the fabric of her clothing, she bucked and thrashed in a desperate attempt to dislodge his hand. The touch wasn't gentle, but possessive – covetous; Zedd wanted her and intended to have her. "No!"

Scrambling, Kimberly tried to crab crawl backwards, away from him, but her strength wasn't up to the task. Zedd's magic was too powerful, too prevalent – and she was no longer a Ranger.

"_KIM_!"

"Not that - not there!"Kimberly's whole body convulsed as her pants were torn, shredded down the crotch - but nowhere else - under the pressure of Zedd's hand. His fingers delved into the torn material, straight to the very core of her womanhood; a brand of ownership. She screamed, attempting to kick him, writhing across the floor in an attempt to unseat him even as his fingers pushed brutally into the tender flesh of her virgin sex.

"Help me," she was still trying to kick him away - but Zedd had caught her legs and forced them wide with his free hand, keeping her efforts down to an ineffectual token resistance. There was nothing she could do, nothing; and there was no rescue waiting in the wings. He was too strong. "Somebody, please!"

"You will be my Queen!"

"_KIMBERLY_!"

Kimberly's body pulled away from his touch instinctively, trying to minimize the sting of his penetration only to lock and go rigid, the agonized screech that tore from her vocal chords ripping through the room like fingernails on a chalkboard as Zedd aligned his body to hers - and brutally thrust forward with a triumphant cry.

The head of his sex caught on the lips of hers for a split second, tearing flesh before forcing its way inside. There was no consideration, no preparation – her body was unwilling and inexperienced – just the way Zedd wanted her. Just the way his Queen should be and his possessive cry echoed through the room.

"_Mine_!"

Blood vessels exploded behind her eyes, the agony of his penetration like a thousand knives shredding her innocence - for he didn't stop, didn't give her body time to adjust. Zedd continued, thrusting and withdrawing, destroying her insides as surely as if he'd taken a blade to her. Crimson stained her clothing and him, the viscous liquid lending lubrication where there had previously been none even as her body writhed in pain, the tortured sounds coming from her throat only seeming to spur him onwards. His rhythm increased, as did the pitch of Kimberly's screams and Zedd used the momentum, gaining speed with his thrusting as she vocalized with his every move. Zedd only seemed to become more lost in his motions the louder she screamed.

Salvation came in the form of a familiar "_Ki-yah_!" as Zedd gripped her hips in brutal hands and began thrusting harder than before. He was mid-stroke, withdrawing from her torn body when he was sent sprawling; a double kick to the side of the head taking him over and off Kimberly's bloodied form.

Jason's hands were on her then, helping her sit up, scooping her from the floor into the familiar brotherly hold that had banished many a nightmare when she'd been a child.

But this was a nightmare that couldn't be banished.

"Go, Jase!"

"We're not leaving without you."

"_Go!_" Trini told him as she landed a powerful strike to Lord Zedd's dazed countenance. "We'll be right behind you!"

Jason tore from the room as Kimberly clung to him desperately, whimpering with his every step.

* * *

_  
Tommy looked sick as he clutched Kimberly close, rocking her shuddering body back and forth in his lap. "Oh, Kim..." He didn't know what to say as he held her tightly, trying to convey through touch what he couldn't through speech. Tortured was too tame of a word for what Zedd had put her through – and Tommy hadn't been there to stop him. Hell, he hadn't even known there was anything wrong until Jason and Kim had landed in his driveway with Goldar on their trail._

_Kimberly's traumas explained so much – her inability to trust anyone but Jason, the way she cringed from physical contact – the way she refused to have anything to do with him. He'd failed her when she'd needed him most._

_The others were silent as Tommy cradled Kimberly, waiting for him to say something - anything - to them. Shuffling their feet, those who had born witness to Kimberly's attack exchanged uneasy looks while Katherine and Billy stared at them in a stunned, horrified silence. _

_Tension crackled through the clearing and the wind picked up, tossing hair and clothing about. Unbeknownst to tall but Dulcea, it was an extension of Tommy's rage, manifesting itself in the elements around them – the Falcon expression his grief for the fallen Crane._

_When Tommy spoke at long last, long minutes has passed and Katherine had given into tears, her face buried in Jason's shoulder. Tommy's voice was muffled by Kimberly's hair. "Jason."_

_"Yeah?"_

_"Why didn't you stop him sooner?" Tommy lifted his head. "Why didn't you save her?"_

_"We couldn't." Jason shifted uncomfortably, Kat pressing close against his side in silent support. Everything Jason couldn't say was in his tone; his desperation during Kimberly's assault and his helplessness until Zedd had already done irreparable damage; the inability - the _failure _- to protect her. "Zedd had some of his magic on the restraints. It wasn't until he was so... involved... with Kim that it failed. I tried, bro. I _tried _to get to her - we all did and I have the scars to remind me."_

_Zack placed a hand on Jason's shoulder and squeezed. "You did in our reality too."_

_"Is that what Zedd meant?" Tommy wanted to know. "When he said he'd learned from the last time?"_

_Zack and Trini exchanged uncomfortable looks and then looked away from the others. _

_"Zack? Trini? What did he mean?"_

_The desperation in Tommy's voice was palatable and Zack bowed his head, his shoulders slumping. "It was... worse in some ways in our reality."_

_"How does it get any worse than that?"_

_"We'd escaped before Jason and Kimberly from this reality were caught. Kim and Jason from our reality died there - as did you, Tommy. Just like you saw, apparently. But when Zedd came after our Kimberly..."_

_Trini grasped Zack's arm in a show of silent support and took up the halting tale. "We were all there, Tommy. Even you. The original six in the same room - reunited at last - but for the wrong reasons. You were targeted specifically and in our reality it was your disappearance that lured in Jason and Kim."_

_"He used me to get to her." Tommy was numb. Zedd had used him as bait to trap Kimberly, to take control of her._

_"All the time. When she and Jason were first captured, he used you as leverage for her good behavior. She wouldn't struggle if he threatened you. Even when he... he..."_

_Zack covered Trini's hand with his own, picking up the story as she faltered. "Even when he raped her, he used you against her. In our reality he threatened to kill you if she didn't give him what he wanted. Kimberly still refused, knowing we were all going to die anyway, so he threw her down on the hub you were tied to and raped her there - so you could see her face."_

_"Son of a bitch!" It escaped before Tommy could censor it, clutching Kimberly that much closer as he hunched over her - as if to protect her from the gruesome reality of that alternate reality_

_"It was the same in our timeline as yours - when Zedd became so enraptured by what he was doing to Kimberly, his magic faltered and we were able to get free. Kimberly, even while being assaulted, freed your hands so the moment the magic faded, you were able to attack Zedd. "_

_"But?"_

_"He snapped her neck before letting go."_

_"We don't know if it was deliberate or an accident," Trini added softly. "But we do know it's what made you and Jason stay behind to try and avenge her. It's what got you two killed."_

_"So what she saw when she arrived-?"_

_"Was you - our Tommy - apologizing for not being able to save her from Zedd, or stop her death." Zack's confirmation was soft. "You - he - believed he'd failed Kimberly when she'd needed him most."_

_"I did, didn't I?" Tommy shuddered to think of what Kimberly - both of them - had endured because of Zedd and his sick obsession. "I didn't even know she was in danger in this timeline – I never felt anything on the connection between us. I should have know something was wrong! I should have saved her!"_

"_You couldn't have, Falcon." Dulcea stepped in before Tommy could blame himself further. "The Crane's connection to you was severed to all but a whisper when she surrendered her coin to Katherine. In Zedd's Dark Dimension, it would have been completely silent."_

"_I..." Tommy looked at Dulcea, and then at the rest of the former Rangers. "I still should have know; I could have saved her."_

"_You couldn't save her when you had your Powers, bro," Jason reminded him pointedly, wincing as he had to play the devil's advocate. "You were younger and likely stronger then, than you are now. How could you have done anything but get yourself killed again?"_

_Tommy _almost _lashed back, but he couldn't. Not when Jason's words held the wisdom of years spent trying to understand what had happened. His shoulders slumped and he adjusted Kimberly in his lap, careful of how she was sitting lest she wake terrified; he didn't want to scare her. Still, he didn't ease his grip on her, couldn't – the need to hold her was too great after what he'd just witnessed. _

_"Tommy." Zack placed one hand on his shoulder, his expression dark. "I do have one more thing to add."_

_"More?"_

_"Yeah; before you and Jason sent Trini and I away, you made a vow. You swore you'd make Zedd pay for what he did to Kim. Regardless of what reality we're in, I'm going to hold you to that, bro. Zedd can't get away with this."_

_Tommy stared down into Kim's unconscious visage, his heart aching for what he'd seen and heard her endure - in both realities. How she'd survived for ten years with the pain was beyond him. She'd never dealt with it entirely - that much was clear - but how had she continued despite it showed her true colors. _

_His Kimberly was a fighter._

_"If you weren't going to hold me to it, Zack, I would have held myself to it. Zedd will pay for what he's done to Kim - for what he's done to all of us." The determination and steel in Tommy's eyes was almost frightening to see. Ten years had turned a rash boy into a man of conviction and confidence - a man of purpose. "Mark my words... it might take the rest of my life, but Zedd will pay."_

_Not one present doubted that claim._


	7. Kindling Reprisals

S E M P E R F I

Disclaimer: _Power Rangers does not belong to me, the use of the characters, and original ideas all belong to Saban and there respective partners. The plot for this story and the sub stories do belong to me however._

_Special Thanks_: Jade-Max

_Summary_: Intent on capturing all of the Rangers, an old evil has returned and Jason and Kim must face their own nightmares as they race to protect the plant one last time…

_Chapter Seven_: Kindling Reprisals

_Written By_: Chrisangelo and Jade-Max

* * *

Dulcea stepped back at Tommy's words. "Well said, Falcon. What remains to be seen is how you will do such a thing. Jason has brought up a valid point. None of you are as young as you once were – nor do you have the powers that once brought you back to par with Zedd and his ilk. How do you propose to satisfy your need for revenge?"

"It's not revenge, Dulcea," Tommy shifted Kim in his grip and gathered his feet under him, pushing to his feet. Zack and Billy moved to help, but a hard look from the longest standing former Ranger gave them pause. Tommy was in leader mode and wasn't about to accept their help for this. "It's justice. What Zedd is doing is wrong; he's murdering former Rangers for the dormant powers contained in their systems. He's corrupting the morphing grid with his evil energies and threatening the very safety of all life on this planet by doing so. The man is a thief, a murderer and a…" Tommy paused, his gaze on Kim's face, forcing himself to continue. "a rapist. He must be stopped before he can do to us what he's done to others. If Zedd isn't stopped, I don't want to imagine what kind of universe we'd be living in."

"And you have no wish for revenge?"

"On the contrary, I'd like nothing more than to grab Zedd's head and smash it continuously with the nearest hefty object – but that's not going to change what happened to Kim or to our alternate selves."

"Dulcea," Billy jumped in before she could answer. "Your appearance in the last altercation with Goldar was incredibly fortuitous. It bears pondering why you should show yourself now and not before."

"Does it, Wolf?" Dulcea smiled secretively. "You have already deduced part of the reason for my appearance – or you would not have said it as you did."

"I have inferred nothing." Billy smiled faintly. "I have a hunch. As you are calling us by our spirit animals – animals which once granted us power - am I correct in assuming that these powers have the likelihood of being resurrected?"

"You are correct. With the changing tides of power, I was forced to take action. While no substantial power exists that is currently active, many lay dormant - but we cannot wait for them to be found. With Zordon no more, I had no other choice than to resurrect your former powers."

Almost fearing to confront their former mentor, Billy crossed his arms – contemplating the question until his words flew true, before he could cease them. "Why did it take you so long to intervene? Kimberly and Jason have been fighting for years without powers – yet you suddenly have the ability to restore them?"

"Your suspicions are valid but you have not the facts; it has taken me many years to obtain them. With the death of Zordon came more than the thought destruction of evil." She stepped forward and looked at the beautiful tone of the sky, almost drifting back to that fateful day. "Before Zordon's death – when you first embarked on your spirit quests - my power was limited. I had little in my body and it was Zordon who first granted me the ability to unlock the powers within."

"I have been on my own spirit quest these past 7 years since Zordon's death. With the tragic sacrifice, he gave me the ability to resurrect the legacy of Eltar and Phados - the two powers that rival any other that has ever existed. Together, the Zeo and Ninjetti powers form the strong and unstoppable Zeo Ninjetti Crystals."

Dulcea's gaze returned to the former Rangers, and her hand dropped to her belt. Slowly, almost reverently, her fingertips traced over the worn material of one covered section and pulled it back. Inch by inch, color was revealed as the trial of her tribulations was unveiled; the one last source for hope – the fully re-forged and restored Zeo-Ninjetti Crystals.

Jason, Trini and Zack exchanged confused looks while Katherine looked on curiously, her hand tightening on Jason's arm. He folded his own over hers and squeezed. He had worked with the Zeo Rangers briefly during his stint as the Gold Ranger but had never felt the power of the Zeo crystals themselves the way she had. While he knew _of_ the powerful abilities of each, but had never _experienced_ them; a closer look revealed something he was sure hadn't been there before. "Weren't there originally five crystals?"

Adjusting his hold on Kat, he freed his hand and instead wrapped one strong arm around her as he moved closer to witness the glowing light of their true color. Only barely did he manage to check the need to reach out and touch it.

"Five were able to be salvaged, but they still didn't hold enough power to progress with Zordon's implications. Enough were they to stand against Mondo and the Machine Empire, yes, but not enough to destroy the true threat against Zordon. You were in need of a power – any power. There was no time to take and develop the true power of the Zeo Crystals." Turning with the wind, Dulcea stared at the two that she had forced through the realities, meeting the gazes of the former Yellow and Black Rangers squarely. "Your destiny as Power Rangers was cut short, but the opportunity for greatness – and to avenge your friend's death - is upon you."

Still affected by the vivid images that they'd borne witness too, Trini lifted her head as her short cut raven hair slanted back and her eyes opened. In their depths was determination and acceptance – but also hesitance. "We were never apart of the Ninjetti or Zeo teams. It's not possible."

"Trini, Zack – step forward." She left them with nothing less than a command but still filled with compassion and turned to Billy. "Wolf, please step forward with your friends."

Still oblivious to how he and his friends would be able to harness the power, Billy joined them, stepping forward to form a triangle in front of Dulcea. "I was never part of the Zeo team so how is this possible? I never endured a Zeo quest."

Neutral clouds absent of any color - gray - filled the skies above and around the rangers, only leaving a small veil around them to keep their natural cognizable color.

"Falcon; Crane; Wolf; Wolverine; Tiger; Jackal."

Dulcea recited the names of the sacred and legendary animal spirits of the crystal, a glow surfacing in their native colors. Beams of light dropped from the sky to individually shine on the rangers, casting them aglow in their radiance; except for Tommy and Kimberly.

The Pink and White lights twisted downwards, merging together in a shining dance. It was warm, bathing each in a sense of surety and acceptance as they opened themselves to the powers. The warmth of the light - the power - was causing Kimberly to stir, revitalizing and giving her the strength she'd lost.

Seeing the Crane beginning to wake compelled Dulcea to act, fearing the impact of Kimberly's woken state. Of all the Rangers, the Crane had the most trying time ahead of her.

From Kimberly to the triangle of former rangers in front of her, Dulcea separated three of the crystals – blue, yellow, and black; to Billy, Trini, and Zack respectively. The lights faded from around them back into the crystal as they were accepted and clasped tightly.

Grasping the black crystal in his hands, Zack looked up at Dulcea and questioned being given a piece of the crystal – a piece to restore what was lost. A part of him was glad he was able to be restored with the powers, but was it rightfully his? "Shouldn't this belong to Adam?"

Even in the alternate timeline, Adam had been chosen as the Ninjetti Black Ranger - the Frog - as well as the Zeo Green Ranger.

"The Bear, Ape, and Frog have been used to unlock the powers and survive only in the darkness now. They are no more."

A gasp from Trini dropped into the sudden silence as Dulcea gave them a moment to understand the importance of her words. When she continued, it was with regretful emphasis.

"Only one with the true powers of Zordon are able to wield these crystals. Even if Adam, Aisha, and Rocky experienced one or the other of these powers, they would never have been able to survive with both. They are not Zordon's chosen six. The power may be in all of you, but only will it surface when you finish your quests; until successful, these powers will continue to lie dormant. A word of caution; these quests which will be unlike any you have faced."

Not wanting to question the Ninjetti Queen again, Trini held the crystal close to her chest and took a deep breath, feeling some of the power flow through her. She knew it would not be complete until they went on the quests but the wounds and power loss that had been inflicted a lifetime ago, but holding it seemed to bring warmth to her heart she had long forgotten. Warmth four of her friends would never feel again. Even if she was in a new reality where they existed, a part of her would never forget where she'd come from and what it had cost. "Billy...Tommy...Kim...Jason..."

Watchful and silent for the revelations of the new power, Tommy knelt back to the ground still holding Kimberly tight in his arms. New Powers – sort of. He well remembered the speed and grace associated with the Ninjetti and the power of the Zeo. While both powers were very different, combined they'd be lethal. Power, stealth, agility and stamina rolled into a combined package of explosive energy – _if_ they could harness the powers, they promised to be potentially unstoppable.

If.

Looking down at Kim, Tommy had his doubts about her wanting to be a Ranger again. It had gotten her into this mess, brought about the very traumas that she'd endured and forced her to face things when she wanted nothing more than to curl into a dark corner and disappear.

She moaned softly, a pained sound, and he could stay silent no longer. "Hey – it's okay, Beautiful." He whispered down at the fallen crane as she began to wake from her painful slumber. He wasn't even thinking of her reaction, he wasn't even processing the past ten years. In his mind it was like when they were teenagers. He would be the only one to protect her – to save her.

_But he was wrong._

Beautiful.

* * *

The nickname echoed about in her head, careening from one side to the other and unlocking doors to memories she had wanted to forget. Hearing that name, so close as she did, made her soul want to weep. He used that against her so many times. He tormented her into believing that Tommy – the man she loved, was alive, by using that name. He perpetuated a lie, reaching into her soul to the very core of all things good and pure and tainted them with darkness. Never again would that nickname be the innocent pet name it had once been. Never again would she be able to hear it without thinking of the pain it had caused her.

Sensations intruded; the arms around her, the scent that enveloped her senses, the musculature of the thighs on which her backside rested – so familiar and yet so foreign.

With effort, Kimberly climbed from the pit that was the darkness of her memories and finally opened her eyes to a sight she'd never wanted to see again. Concerned brown eyes stared back at her, a brow furrowed with worry, the gentle pressure of finger tips against her temple and cheek relaying the care behind that look.

A scream filled with terror, fear and anguish ricocheted through the rocks above and beyond as Kimberly tore her way out of Tommy's arms and away from him, crawling backwards against the eroded ground as she sought to get away. Panic was evident in her features, dread filling her gaze as she sought to put as much distance between them as humanly possible.

The man that held her, the man that touched her, only intensified the feelings she was trying to forget – the way Zedd's touch had been; the way that Zedd had toyed with her and her feelings. Her Tommy was dead – she'd seen him, held him, spoken to him as he'd disintegrated into dust – there was no doubt about that. Her voice was shrill as she found it, continuing to scramble away.

"Stay away from me!"

Tommy stated at her, too stunned by her reaction to his hold to do more than let her scramble away.

Unlocking Katherine's hold around his waist, but unconsciously not wishing to, Jason moved forward, breaking into a quick sprint to Kimberly's side. Taking a knee, he was slapped for his efforts once until he was able to grab her swinging hands. She stiffened immediately and screamed – Jason simply pulled her into his arms and rocked with her back and forth. "It's me, Kim! It's me."

Wanting to pull him back into her embrace, Kat reluctantly let him go – only to watch Jason run to Kimberly's side. Wrapping her arms around herself, a small hint of jealousy formed in her heart as a lump formed in her throat. Whispering quietly to herself she slowly ran her thumb over the band that covered a small portion of a finger on her left hand. "Jason...?"

Kimberly remained rigid in Jason's grasp for a fraction of a second, the panic sill evident in her posture, until his words and touch seemed to penetrate the fog of her desperation. Collapsing, the fight leaving her body, she wrapped her arms tightly about him, clinging for dear life.

"Jason! It's him, he's Zedd! He's come back!" Her frantic cry depicted the Tommy that stood helplessly in front of them as the attacker – the monster – who'd stolen everything from her.

Used to Kimberly's outbursts – but not the power of this one – Jason rubbed her back, tightening his hold on her and failed to note the confused and slightly jealous look he was receiving from the Australian blonde. Murmuring softly to her, he didn't really pay attention to what he was saying, except to insure her that Zedd wasn't there, that Tommy was and that no one, but no one was going to hurt her again.

It took several minutes for Kimberly's accusations to ebb and finally die. When the wind was once again the only sound moving across the plateau, it took several moments of silence before Kimberly seemed to become aware of their surroundings. Her gaze – locked on Tommy through the whole of her tirade – finally shifted from him to Kat, who was watching her and Jason with an unreadable pained expression. Beyond Kat stood Billy with Dulcea and next to her… next to her were… were…

Tears which had threatened - but never fallen - finally traced their way down her cheeks and the images of her friends blurred, erased by the moisture and finally her eyelids as they dropped to eliminate the scene all together. In denial, she shook her head rapidly, turning her face away. "No! I must be dreaming! Dulcea's on Phados! Zack and Trini...Zack and Trini...are _dead_."

"Kim…"

"Wake me up, Jason!" Her plea was broken. "I can't do this again; I can't-"

"My agile Crane, you are stronger than you believe; you are one of four to survive."

Dulcea's voice seemed to snap Kimberly into a state of stunned incredulity. Where before she had believed she was dreaming, suddenly it all seemed horribly real. Turning slowly to meet the gaze of her former mentor, Kimberly noticed the three crystals that remained tucked to her belt - and the three in Billy, Trini, and Zack's hands.

"Survive?" She choked on the word, her fingers twining painfully in Jason's shirt. "You call this survival?"

"Adversity suits you." Dulcea made no move to close the distance between them and instead smiled faintly. "Your spirit was cowed but not broken, damaged but not beyond repair. Your loss is tragic, yet you are capable of moving beyond it."

And with those words Kimberly knew they knew the truth. Pushing Jason away from her, she stood up almost falling backwards, skidding across the rocks until she found her balance. Backing away, she placed one foot behind the other, heading for the edge of the plateau as she held her hand up to ward him off should he come after her. The look of betrayal that filled her tear struck eyes as she glared at Jason drew him immediately to his feet in supplication.

"You told them?" The choked demand was as much a question as it was an accusation. Everything – every emotion she was feeling – was clear in her high pitched tone.

Empathy and pain echoed in the faces around her as one by one they dropped their gazes from her, Tommy holding on the longest – and it was Kimberly who finally looked away, unable to deal with the raw emotions in his gaze. But it confirmed her worst fears.

Tommy.

After everything she'd done to him, after every callous action she'd taken, was the last person she would ever have expected to show compassion. That he had moved beyond it and seemed to only want to help her despite their past differences was mind boggling. But she couldn't deny the evidence; she'd woken, after all, in his embrace. Even now, having had to look away, the look in his brown orbs had seared straight through her barriers and threatened what little control the anger had brought her.

Pity she could have dealt with – she'd received it before and ignored it – but compassion and understanding coupled with the rawness of everything Psycho Pink had unlocked were too intense for her to cope with at the moment. She might never be ready to deal with them and didn't know if she wanted to.

Keeping Tommy at arm's length was imperative to her state of mind.

It was the reason she took on the lesser of the two challenges in front of her. "How could you, Jason? They can't even look at me!"

"I didn't tell anyone, Kim!" Jason pleaded with his best friend and little sister, trying to get her to reason with him. "I swear."

"Your dreams were brought here in forms of visions to everyone. They had to know the truth. In order to move on from this, they needed to know the true darkness that is Lord Zedd." Dulcea's words were meant to explain and add clarity – but only drew Kimberly's ire.

"You had... no right." The former Pink ranger rounded on the Ninjetti Queen, the feeling of having been violated once again settling about her like a mantle. Her hands clenched as she wrapped her arms about her waist, forcing a deep breath. "No right, Dulcea! How dare you sh... show them..." she couldn't finish the sentence and instead turned her back on everyone. Her trembling was so violent it was visible to them all.

"Understanding is crucial, my Crane," Dulcea's tone was filled with regret. "Without it, the chances of defeating Lord Zedd decrease exponentially. Your wounds must be mended before you can fly again."

A choked laugh was her answer as Kimberly hunched her shoulders forward, as if to protect herself from Dulcea – and the rest of the Rangers. Fly again? That was a joke. Kimberly had no desire to fly again – in any form. "Send me back." Her words trembled in time with her lips, showcasing her attempt to hold back tears.

"That's not possible, Crane. You are destined to become the Pink Ranger again."

Even as she spoke, Dulcea activated the crystals of the three who were already prepared for their journey. Three teleportation beams surrounding them, transporting them to the start of their quests. They had witnessed enough – the rest was meant for the final four.

As the other three disappeared – unbeknownst to Kimberly – she was already answering, the vehemence and bitterness in her edged tone catching them all off guard. "I am _not_ the Crane and I will _never_ be anyone's Pink Ranger ever again. Kat can replace me – she has before."

"_Excuse_ me?" The Australian blonde's head shot up in confusion as she was drawn from contemplation and looked around nervously.

Tense, derisive laughter unlike anything any of them had ever heard from Kimberly erupted from her throat. "Oh _come on_. You were my choice of successor and delighted in stepping into my shoes in every way possible."

"What are you talking about Kimberly?"

"Oh that's rich. Are you trying to tell me you were never under Rita's spell when you first met us? That you didn't covet him even then?"

"I wasn't… that's not how I-"

"How you what, Kat? Plotted to steal Tommy as well as my powers? Were you just waiting for the chance to edge in?"

"I never wanted Tommy!" Jason and Tommy turned around to look at Kat incredulously as she cut off whatever tirade Kimberly had been about to embark on. "I was never the Pink Ranger, you were. I've never _been_ a Ranger."

Tommy's expression was unreadable to her and she didn't dare read Jason's as he stepped forward in confusion. "What are you talking about, Kat? You took over for Kim when she left for Florida."

Shaking her head again, Kat seemed to have no idea what they were talking about. "No I didn't. Kimberly never left for Florida – she turned Coach Schmidt down."

Jason moved back to Katherine's side, searching her face expectantly. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he forced her to look at him. "Kat, Kimberly _did_ leave - and she gave _you_ the Pink Power coin. Don't you remember?"

Staring at him blankly, Katherine shook her head, anger and confusion lending her the strength to snap back. "No, Jason; you're wrong. I've known you since I moved to Angel Grove our freshman year of High School and I've never been a Ranger – but I knew that you were." To everyone's shock she lifted her hand, displaying a plain metal band with a single small ruby on the ring finger of her left hand. "We were set to be married in the future before Lord Zedd kidnapped you!" Tears formed in her eyes when she saw the same look of confusion that she knew she was wearing. "Don't _you_ remember?"

Stunned, Jason, Kimberly and Tommy could do little but stare at her. Freshman Year? Jason engaged to Kat? Was she feeling alright?

Katherine, for her part, stared back at them, blue eyes brimming with tears as she covered her hand to stifle a sudden sob. "I've been looking for you for ten years, Jason, how could you have forgotten us?"

Dulcea stepped forward, intervening before things got too far out of hand. "Katherine, he is not the Jason you remember; the Jason you knew is dead."

"He's not dead, he's right here!"

"You are correct and yet you are not." Dulcea's tone was compassionate. "Your will to find Jason has allowed you to accomplish your goals, Katherine – but not in the fashion you intended."

"No." Katherine shook her head vehemently, reaching for Jason. "Jason is right here; how can you say otherwise?"

"The line between these two realities has faded, my dear one, and with the fading and alteration, you were forced from the timeline you know so intimately. Your search has been long, but your desire to reach your beloved has compelled you across time and space into another reality where he exists still. The man you knew died in Lord Zedd's Dark Dimension in the attempt to avenge his best friend from childhood."

"No!" Kat's shriek was desperate as she lunged for Jason, burrowing into his embrace as he automatically caught her, still stunned by Dulcea's revelations. Alternate timelines aside, the fact he and Kat were together in it blew his mind. Even as Jason struggled with the reality of it, Katherine's sobbing echoed through the surrounding area.

His attention was drawn and caught as Kat's hands fisted in his shirt and she thrashed against his chest in denial, looking up at him with sparkling eyes glazed with heartache. "You promised you wouldn't leave me! You promised you wouldn't die."

Jason flinched with her accusation. "I-"

"You _promised_!" Kat clutched him like a lifeline, her gaze dropping to his neck in desperation – only to let out a small mewling sound of agony as she noted the absence of the chain she'd given him from around it. If the chain was missing, so was the ring it carried. Weeping as she buried her face in his shoulder and gave vent to sobs that tore loose from the bottom of her heart. "You… you promised…"

"Promises are made to be broken."

Jason's head snapped up with Kimberly's harsh assessment and he narrowed his gaze at her before realizing what he was doing. Kimberly's didn't flinch from his disapproving look. "You know better than that, Kim."

"Do I?" The ache was back in her chest as she watched Jason comfort Kat. "Every promise anyone's ever made me has been broken. Even you."

"Kim-"

"It's not you she's mad at, bro."

Kimberly and Jason turned to look at Tommy who'd been a near silent observer until now. He'd been reeling with the knowledge of what had been revealed about Kim, of Kat's revelations and of Kimberly's bitterness through it all. She had a hard, jaded edge that had been missing in high school – and one that made all too much sense based on her experiences since those carefree days.

Hell, Tommy himself wasn't the same boy she'd known then, but she seemed to have split, a part of her stuck in the past - at the moment when her innocence was lost. The rest of her was a woman of formidable spirit and courage who was slowly being smothered by that younger self as it drowned in memories. Somehow they had to merge the two and help the frightened girl accept the woman she'd become.

It wasn't going to be easy.

"Bro?" Jason's questioning tone was hesitant, drawing Tommy from his thoughts. Kimberly had looked away from them, staring out across the plains below the mesa as if she could ignore their presence simply by not looking at them. Tommy never lifted his gaze from her profile, the achingly beautiful lines of her features only having refined with age and experience.

Despite it, her beauty wasn't what held him captive – it was the glitter of a single, solitary tear in the corner of her eye that she refused to let fall. Finally, not looking at Jason, Tommy spoke. "It's not you she's mad at; it's me."


	8. Falcon vs Crane

S E M P E R F I

Disclaimer: _Power Rangers does not belong to me, the use of the characters, and original ideas all belong to Saban and there respective partners. The plot for this story and the sub stories do belong to me however._: Jade-Max

Special Thanks

_Summary_: Intent on capturing all of the Rangers, an old evil has returned and Jason and Kim must face their own nightmares as they race to protect the plant one last time…

_Chapter Eight_: Falcon v.s. Crane

_Written By_: Chrisangelo and Jade-Max

* * *

"You're just the center of everyone's world, aren't you Tommy?" Kimberly's scathing comment bit through the sudden silence with deadly accuracy. "A little full of yourself, don't you think?"

"Tell me I'm wrong." Tommy moved into Kimberly's line of vision, cutting off her view of Jason and Kat.

"You're wrong."

"Am I?" He stepped towards her and Kimberly retreated backwards, away from the edge in a semi-circular motion. "We saw what you went through Kim; all of us did."

The anger was back in her gaze as she stopped, only to retreat with his next step forward. "Dulcea had no right to show you what happened to me – none!"

"I beg to differ." Knowing he shouldn't, Tommy couldn't seem to help himself as he stalked her, circling like the bird of prey that was his totem.

"You beg to _differ_?" Another tense and derisive laughter escaped Kimberly's lips as she stopped, turning to face him head on and extended her arm in accusation. "those were personal moments, events that should never happen to anyone, and you had no right to watch, like some sick voyeur getting off on it!"

"We had every right. _I_ had every right."

"You had _no right_!" She screamed the words at him, the vicious and choleric gaze she was sending him could pierce right through skin and rip out his heart. "You weren't there! You weren't used and abused, shredded from within by some sick psycho!"

"But I was, Kim."

Tommy's tone – even and level but achingly pained – had her staring at him in dumb amazement. Nothing else he could have said would have affected her as quickly, or as radically, as that statement.

Tommy pushed on. "He used me as surely as he used you, Kim. He pretended to _be_ me; for all intense and purposes he violated your memory of me just as he did your body."

Crossing her arms over her chest defensively, she quickly regained her wits and regarded him coolly. "What could you possibly know about it? You saw some vision but were you there? You crumbled just like the others, turning into sand and giving into Zedd - ultimately helping him. You're no better than he is! You're weak!"

The comparison to Zedd he'd braced himself for – after all, she'd woken in his arms screaming about how he _was_ Zedd – but hearing it from her lips was something else. The accusation cut deeply and drew blood – heart's blood – because he could tell she wasn't just saying the words; she meant them.

Despite the bite of her words, he forged ahead. This was the reaction he was going for; this was the Kimberly he was trying to reach, not that scared, simpering broken creature she'd become. No matter how much it hurt, he was willing to bear the pain if it meant getting her to show her true self if only for a moment. "It's my fault, Kim. I should have protected you. I should have been there."

"You were there!" Trying as it may have been, Kim persisted to hold that one tear that formed in her eye the moment her confrontation with Tommy had begun and refused to let it fall. Stepping away, a burning behind her eyes heralded more tears and she quickly cleared her throat, glaring at him. "You were there the moment I gave up my power coin, pushing me away to Florida – with no remorse whatsoever. You had every chance to save me, but each and every time you cast me away without a second thought!"

"I was letting you follow your dreams; I refused to hold you back." Treading forward, only the gaze between them empowering his feet, Tommy desired to reach out for her yet he knew he couldn't.

Not yet.

Ten years of silence – ten years of withholding all of this pain and anger. Tommy always wondered how their reunion would be, but this was unlike anything he'd ever imagined – even in his nightmares.

"_You_ were my dream! You, Tommy," her voice cracked, and for a moment he thought she wouldn't continue, but she forged ahead determinedly. "The Pan Globals were the dreams of a girl, a little girl who wanted to compete for the gold. I may have said I really wanted to go, but more than that I wanted you to ask me to stay!"

Staring at her dumbfounded, he realized, ten years too late, just how foolish he'd been. He'd known what he was giving up at the time – or he'd thought he'd known – and he'd thought he'd been doing the right thing. Yet, here she was claiming it was never what she wanted to begin with; that all she'd wanted were three little words. Stay with me.

"But you didn't." Her voice was expressionless and dead. "You saw me off with a hug, a kiss and a smile... and my love for you, died when you...when you..." She couldn't even bring herself to recite the words, the memory of the alternate Tommy dying in her arms, all too fresh in her mind. Their gazes had never parted, remaining locked as she confessed that dead dream – and was unable to hide the truth in her gaze. Or the shimmering tears.

"You never could lie to me, Kim." Knowing that their love could never die, Tommy refused to let her lies pass. "And ten years hasn't changed that."

"It's the truth Tommy." Backing away another step, Kim moved across the rocks and glided further away, their gaze never faltering. "I don't love you."

"I couldn't save you from that bastard," the words almost stuck in his throat. He'd saved her from Zedd before, but not this time. "But I could have saved you from becoming this pathetic creature."

"You always knew how to make a girl feel good," scathing in her remarks, she slid another step backwards, seemingly unaware that Tommy wasn't speaking of her physical appearance but the spiritual and mental damage Zedd had wrought. "Are you forgetting that you were… There's not a lot those kind of men can do."

"I should have been there for you!"

"But you weren't. Instead you were too busy bettering my replacement and trying to worm your way into her pants!" Feeling the need to strike Katherine for all it was worth she glared past him at the embracing couple across the clearing. "Don't try to understand it, Tommy, you'll never be able to."

"The way he used me against you... calling you Beautiful... holding you... supporting you... kissing you." The ache in his tone was almost physical.

"Stop it!" Directing her anger and pain in the form of a scream, Kimberly dodged in a quick sprint, running further away from him – nearing Dulcea.

"Kim, he used my love for you; he made you believe I was still alive."

"I said stop it, Tommy! You are no different than Zedd! Do you hear me? You are just the same as him!"

"I've never forced you into anything."

Another unexpected laugh furthered out of Kimberly's mouth as she tilted her head back. "You shoved me onto the plane, leaving for Florida! If you would have stopped me, none of this would have ever happened – it's your fault! Trini and Zack are dead because of you!"

Tommy couldn't summon a reply, the words still ringing in his mind. Her remark had literally forced the air from his lungs in its vindictiveness. Her words had been chosen to hurt and they'd more than succeeded. No words came, no thoughts formed – and in that moment Kim won her first battle against him.

Bitter triumph shone in her gaze, the knowledge that she'd succeeded in regaining a point of control Zedd had stolen in his attack, prompted her to open her mouth to continue.

But Dulcea, as if sensing the breakdown soon to come, stepped forward and the sky above them turned from day into night almost instantaneously. "My return will be when the sun rises at the break of tomorrow – rest up Rangers, you'll need it." No sooner than her words faded, she transmogrified into an owl and flew off in the distance.

Using Dulcea's exit as the perfect opportunity, Jason gently caressed Kat's cheek before moving out of their entangled embrace and walked over to stand by Tommy. Tommy and Kim had made almost a full circle of the Plateau and the distance between where they started and where they'd ended up was almost nil. Symbolic of their conversation and their current relationship; going nowhere.

"I think you guys have had enough of a reunion to last a life time."

Kim continued to glare – but triumphantly – at Tommy and finally spun, walking back towards the precipice that overlooked the jungle. With a graceful collapse, she settled on the edge, her feet hanging over into nothingness to look out across the midnight sky.

Jason watched her go, conflicted about the fact that she sought solitude for the first time since the attack and not turned to him. It left him proud of her, but it stung too. It didn't help his heart ached from watching the confrontation between them. Not only did these two need a break, but so did he and Kat – while they hadn't done much beyond hold one another and listen, his mind was running a mile a minute over the information she'd given. Focusing on his friends gave him the chance to worry about someone other than he and Kat and the confusion picture she'd painted.

Pulling Tommy to the side, away from both Kat and Kim, he pointed a finger right against Tommy's chest and lightly shoved him back. "Have you lost it, Oliver?"

Rubbing the spot where Jason shoved him – not out of hurt, but more out of shock - Tommy glared at Jason and kept glancing back at Kim. "Lost what?"

"Your mind! What were you thinking confronting her like that?"

"I had to push her, the person she's becoming is..._pathetic_." Using that word made Tommy's heart crush even more, he hated admitting it – but it was true. Given the circumstances, the person Kimberly had been would have died if she'd seen who she'd become. "She's like a Zombie, man."

"That's a bit harsh, bro."

"It may be, but come on Jase, look at her. I had to get the true Kim to shine. She had to attack me like she was attacked Zedd – even verbally."

"That last one was a zinger."

Tommy winced. "I know, but it shows she's not above defending herself or going on a counter attack."

"I thought about doing that, but I could never bring myself to. You may have seen her dream, but her screams still echo in my ears. Knowing that I couldn't save her..."

Placing a comforting and understanding hand on Jason's shoulder, Tommy drew past what had been the center of his mind for the past few hours. Instead he examined his best friend and directed his focus to the confused look on Jason's face as he gazed at Katherine. "You've got your own problems, huh?"

"Huh?" Jason obviously entangled with his own thoughts, failed to comprehend his best friend's statement. "I'm sorry, bro, I'm just distracted."

"Aren't we all?"

"I know I should be focusing on Kim, she's like my little sister – but, I can't help but keep thinking about Kat..."

"I understand, Jase. That's crazy that Kat... well that Kat." Pointing his finger at the woman standing in the distance, Tommy tried to find the right words. "She was with you, she never participated in Kim's downfall... and Kim stayed... man I wish I could have been in that reality."

"Are you stupid, or crazy? If you were in that reality – you would have seen Kim die and _raped_ right in front of you!"

Taking a defensive step back, Tommy held his hands up as if he were defeated. "That came out wrong. Sorry Jase, I was just thinking aloud. I don't think I could have witnessed that; it was bad enough seeing what happened to my Kim." Completely oblivious to claiming Kim as his own, he turned around to watch her as she was shredding some kind of native grass in her hands. "I know how it ended, but I don't know anything in between. Did our alternate selves progress as we did in this timeline? How did things change after Kim went on the Zeo quest and no Kat, ya know? She would have been the longest standing Ranger..."

"The good can't outweigh the bad."

"Can't it?" Tommy turned his gaze back to his friend. "Then what are we fighting for? We've been in tough spots before but we've never given up."

"Nothing like this, bro."

"I know; but that doesn't mean you give up." Inhaling deeply to cleanse himself of the frustration and lingering pain of Kimberly's attacks, he changed the subject. "I can't believe you're engaged."

"If you can call it that; I'm more worried about living up to what she thinks of my alternate self."

"Living up to a ghost?"

"Yeah."

"So... you do like her?" Tommy pried and was rewarded with the sight of an unusual blush spreading across Jason's tan cheeks.

"No..." Clearing his throat and staring daggers at Tommy, Jason crossed his arms and shifted so he could look at Kat. "Well...I guess I always had an attraction to her, it's just I wouldn't do anything about it. A man doesn't mess with his best friend's girl – ever. But it's not the same Kat we all know."

"No it's not." Tommy followed Jason's gaze and shook his head. "If I'd been paying attention to anything but Kim I'd have noticed it sooner."

"You knew her that well, huh?"

"We did date for over a year and having her on the Power team well... you remember how it is. Battle has a way of showing a person's true colors."

"Considering the source..."

Tommy snorted at the jibe. "Funny. So what's with this alternate reality?"

"I don't know just yet," Jason's admission was accompanied with a grimace. "Like I said, I'm more worried about living up to this image she has of the alternate me than about what happened in it, but I am curious."

"Were you still a Ranger?"

"It doesn't sound like it." Regret colored the former Ranger's tone. "Sounds like I followed a similar path when I was given the opportunity to attend the Peace Conference."

"So if you guys met at the same time Kim and I did, that means you were together for about a year and a half then." Bending down, Tommy began arranging some of the stones into a ring. "It must have been some courtship for you to propose."

"No kidding." Seeing what his best friend was doing, Jason bent to assist, collecting some twigs and other nearby dead wood for kindling. Dulcea had left them on a plateau littered with easily accessible fire wood – and what looked to be flint and steel; if they could figure out how to use them. "I'll admit to being curious, but mostly I'm just confused."

That didn't sound like the Jason Tommy remembered. "Other than the obvious – alternate realities and everything - what do you mean?"

"I gave up on Kat a long time ago, bro." It was the closest Tommy had ever heard him come to admitting a blatant interest in Kat. "She was cool to hang out with, a great friend - and totally sprung on you."

"Jealous?"

"A little, yeah," Jason set the pieces of kindling inside the ring Tommy was building. "And all of a sudden I'm faced with what could have been, ya know? I accepted a long time ago that Kat was never interested and now, all of a sudden, she's throwing herself into my arms every chance she gets."

Saying nothing, Tommy set the last of the stones and picked up the flint and steel. It had been a long time since he'd played with anything so primitive, but he was willing to give it a go. It was just like being on a back country dig – you made do with what you had.

Jason continued, seeming oblivious to Tommy's silence as he moved a couple of larger pieces into the ring. "I was totally cool with you guys as a couple, don't get me wrong, but hearing her say she didn't have an interest in you did something to me. I used to dream she'd say something like that and then throw herself into my arms but I knew it was harmless fantasy."

"You fantasized about my girlfriend?" For some reason, Tommy found it more amusing than insulting. Katherine had never really been his in the same way Kimberly had been. "Why'd you encourage me to ask her out?"

"She wasn't interested in me." Jason pulled his hands back as Tommy placed the flint and steel into position. "If I'd asked her, she would have flat out told me no."

"Which is what has you all confused."

"You can say that again." Jason's attention was once again diverted to where the tall blonde had stood – and was now making her way towards Kimberly. "I guess I just don't understand it. How can the same woman, despite the reality she's in, go for completely different guys right from the get go?"

Tommy didn't have an answer.  
**  
**

* * *

Bereft of Jason's presence, Kat watched as he stepped between Tommy and Kimberly, her heart breaking for the couple she'd known so well through high school. Despite her loss, the break in their relationship was almost physically painful to watch. Jason, thankfully, seemed to know – like he always did – when to step between them.

Kimberly and Tommy hadn't argued often, but when they had, Jason had always been the negotiator.

Numbness had settled over her heart through Kimberly and Tommy's argument, hammering home the reality of her situation; she wasn't in her reality anymore. The people she'd known and cared about were dead and gone and the man she'd been intending to marry had broken his promise to her. Deliberately or not didn't matter to her battered heart. Ten years of seemingly futile searching had led her here and she wasn't about to miss this opportunity.

Of course, as much as she wanted to go to Jason as he led Tommy away, she knew she couldn't. Tommy and Jason were as close in this reality as her own – brothers in all but blood – and she wasn't going to intrude on their discussion; she knew better. As if pulled by some unseen force, her gaze drifted to her own best friend – or rather, the girl who'd carried that title in her own reality.

Kimberly Hart.

Her name was fitting, even prophetic. She was the heart of the Power Rangers, Tommy's strength when he faltered and the very core of everything decent and good. She was the beacon of hope, the effervescent light of optimism and the first person to take a stand when she saw injustice.

At least she had been.

The three of them - Trini, Kimberly and Kat - had needed to use all of their feminine wiles to keep the boys in line and, as a consequence, had formed deep, lasting friendships; Kat being a Ranger or not hadn't mattered. The Trini here was the Trini she remembered – with all the memories and experiences they'd shared. But this Kimberly...

She didn't know where to start.

The pain the former gymnast was in was agonizing to watch. Katherine's instincts were screaming at her to go and help, to ease her best friend's pain – but her heard was urging caution. Kimberly had already attacked her once and it was likely she'd do it again. Yet, even with what her alternate self had done – trying to destroy Kim when she was evil - Kat couldn't help fight the need to help her, even if it was simply lending an ear.

Before she could consciously think about the action, Kat had trudged across the rugged ground, and over to Kim. She stood, staring out over top of the seated gymnast, observing the view even as the crackle of a fire drifted to her from behind. The men had been successful in their endeavor.

"Kimberly?" Her Australian accent was hard to hide and had thickened from her nervousness about this approach.

"What do _you_ want?" Not even giving Kat the satisfaction of looking back at her, Kim stayed in the same position, overlooking the darkened mesa, her whole body tense as if she were about to fly off the edge of the precipice any moment.

"I'm sorry Dulcea showed us those images."

"I don't or want or need your pity." There was an underlying tone of steel in her voice that had been missing earlier – except during her discussion with Tommy. "If that's why you came here, why don't you do what you do best?"

"What I do best?"

"You like taking what's mine - now's your chance." She nodded her head sharply back towards Tommy and Jason without sparing Kat a look. "I won't even fight you on it; you're welcome to him."

"Him?" Katherine frowned.

"Didn't I make it clear I don't want him anymore? Tommy's all yours, Kat."

"I can't speak for my alternate self, but I have never had any feelings for Tommy."

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that."

"I don't!" Katherine dropped to her knees beside Kimberly, her tone imploring. "I'm sorry for what she did, but I don't like him! I never have as anything more than a friend." Tears welled up in her eyes and a sharp pain squeezed her heart as Kat tried to stay focused on why she'd come over. "What you went through was awful, horrible and nightmarish, but at least you have Jason! I lost everything, Kimberly, _everything_. I lost my fiancée when Jason d-died - and I lost you."

"Awe poor Katherine, she lost her love and the girl she tried to destroy. Try losing your best friends and the last bit of innocence you'll ever carry." Kimberly finally rounded on the blonde, her eyes spitting spiteful fire. "Try living with the memories every day and the knowledge that you've been tainted until the day you die. Try crying yourself to sleep, when you can sleep, because you know the only reason is due to exhausting and he's always there waiting in your dreams. Try waking up screaming, knowing that the nightmare isn't just a nightmare but your reality replying itself in your sub-consciousness."

"Kim, I-"

"Forgive me if I don't think losing one person is equivalent to what I endure every day, Katherine, but you can't possibly know what it is to live with the knowledge that the very evil you once sought to destroy was able to destroy you instead."

"If it had destroyed you, you'd be dead."

"And I am in your reality. Imagine that!"

Katherine flinched at her sarcasm. "But he didn't destroy you or her; Both of you fought on – you by surviving and she by freeing Tommy to help her."

"Some good that did either of us; it got her killed and I'm..." Kimberly trailed off, looking back across the darkened landscape. "I'm charged with taking up a burden of power I never asked for at a stage in my life where I just want to be left alone."

"You're never alone, Kim."

"You're right – I'm surrounded by goody goodies like you who want to fix me."

"That's not fair," wounded Katherine withdrew slightly. "I only want to help."

"That's a joke. You can't even figure out what's going on between you and Jason so as far as I'm concerned you can take your 'help' and go to hell – where you belong."

Stung, Katherine fought back without thinking. "I've been in hell since Jason disappeared; what did I ever do to you, Kimberly? Me, the Katherine you don't know, what did _I_ ever do to you?"

"You represent everything I surrendered to follow a dream I never fulfilled."

"How is that my fault?"

Kim snorted, but her hostility level seemed to have ebbed marginally. "You're here, aren't you?"

"I am. But I'm not the Katherine you gave your powers to, nor am I the Katherine who was interested in Tommy. Pardon me for saying so, but no matter how cute you think Tommy is - he has nothing on Jason."

Kimberly blinked and looked back at the other woman with arched eyebrows. "What do you see in that guy anyway?"

"Do you really want to know?" Kimberly nodded and Katherine took a moment to examine Kimberly's expression. Despite the guarded look in her eyes, reflected by the firelight, there was genuine interest. Settling herself next to Kimberly, Katherine dangled her legs over the edge of the cliff next to her and stretched her arms backwards, staring up into the starlit sky. For a long moment she gathered her thoughts. "Are you sure you want to know?"

"Of course; Jason's always been like my brother, I can't imagine what any _sane_ woman would see in him."

Laughing softly, Katherine shook her head and tilted it backwards, unable to look at the other woman as she spoke. "He's the most caring, daring, gentle person I've ever met. He always puts me first, wouldn't _dream_ of doing something I wasn't ready for and he was my first friend in Angel Grove."

The eerie similarities between Kat and Jason and her and Tommy made Kimberly shiver. "So… how'd you meet?"

"You wouldn't believe me."

"I might; nothing Jason does surprises me anymore."

"He saved me from Bulk and Skull."

Kimberly's head whipped about in shock. "He what?"

"Bulk and Skull; they're in your reality too, aren't they?"

Warning bells were going off in Kimberly's head. "Uh… yeah. But you said Jason saved you?"

Katherine nodded. "Bulk and Skull stole my books my first morning at Angel Grove High. I was the new kid in town, I hadn't met anyone yet and they figured I was an easy target. I got cornered in the school yard and Jason suddenly appeared out of nowhere. He chased them off and introduced himself." A heartfelt sigh escaped from Katherine's lips, a sound of longing and blissful memory. "He was dressed in these black jeans and jacket with this red muscle shirt – I forgot my own name when he introduced himself. The look in his eyes... those brown, deep dark pools... oh gosh, Kim, I thought I was going to drown!"

"Blown away, huh?"

"Totally," Katherine giggled softly. "Love at first sight. Fortunately, Jason forgave my momentary lapse and when I finally found my voice and introduced myself, he was playing the gentleman. We hit it off right from the start."

"Jason's good that way."

"I know."

Silence fell between them and Kimberly noted with a start it was a comfortable silence. The kind of silences she'd once shared with Trini when they'd been teenagers in high school. Unwilling to break the fragile truce that had descended between her and Kat, she pursued her line of questioning. She really _was_ curious. "So… what happened next?"

"You know Jason; he's a gentleman."

"In other words he didn't make a move for over a year."

Throwing back her head, Katherine laughed, the sound echoing back to the two men and drawing their astounded gazes. "You sound right disappointed Kim; I've never heard you say it quite that dryly before."

Tommy was _not_ a topic Kim was ready to discuss just yet. "So, what happened?"

Katherine let it pass – after the blasting she'd taken when she'd first sat down, she wasn't ready to take another one just yet – and talking about Jason was comforting. It brought warmth to her heart and soul that had been lacking of late. "He asked me out the next week."

"Get out – he didn't!"

"Uh hmm, he did and because he did, Tommy asked you out the next day. Jason was forever teasing him about how he totally took credit for the two of you getting together."

"He would have. So how'd he do it anyway? Just come right out and ask you?"

"Would you believe me if I told you he had the announcer in a karate tournament ask me?"

"He what?!"

"Yup. The announcer introduced him for his routine and then when he finished he was right in front of me on bended knee, hand outstretched. The announcer then said 'Katherine Hillard, this martial artists humbly requests the privilege of calling you his.' I'd never been more shocked in my life – except maybe when I nodded and he kissed me in front of everyone."

"I hope you're making that up."

"Not a word," Katherine grinned. "Jason's quite the romantic when he puts his mind to it."

"So explain the ring then; did he try and top that proposal?"

"Far from it – it was very understated."

"He didn't get down on one knee?"

"He didn't have to. We were at school on the steps and he was below me – so he just turned, looked right up at me and held my hand right in front of you, Tommy, Trini, Billy and Zack and asked if I'd marry him someday. I thought he was joking – until I saw the ring."

"Wow."

"Yeah. He was pretty sweet."

"Was?"

"This Jason – your Jason – isn't my Jason."

"But you want him to be."

"Can you blame me?" Katherine looked back towards where the guys were unwrapping something they'd found for shelter. "I've spent ten years looking for him – and for you – since you two disappeared only to find you in another reality with the knowledge that the people I know and shared all of these experiences with are gone. Killed by the very evil they sought to destroy. It's not very fair, is it."

"Life never is."

"Then perhaps I should forget the memory of what he was and focus on what he is."

"Are you trying to tell me something Kat?"

Katherine pushed to her feet. "You've learned to stop listening to your heart, Kimberly. It's what made you unstoppable in the past. If you can't regain that ability, this fight – all of it – could be for nothing. Good night."

Kimberly watched Katherine walk way before turning her gaze back to the darkness. Her own screams began in her ears once more and this time, instead of trying to run from it, she simply dropped a wall of silence. Nobody understood – not even Kat – the pain of what she'd endured and none of them would. Her ability to listen to her heard had been obliterated in that cell along with what was left of her innocence and she'd never trust it again. It simply wasn't possible.


	9. Contentions and Obligations

**Semper Fi**

Disclaimer: Power Rangers does not belong to me, the use of the characters, and original ideas all belong to Saban and there respective partners. The plot and substories for this belong to both of the authors.

Summary: Intent on capturing all of the Rangers, an old evil has returned and Jason and Kim must face their own nightmares as they race to protect the plant one last time…

Chapter Nine: Contentions and Obligations

Written By: Chrisangelo and Jade-Max

-*-

When morning broke ten hours later, Kimberly was still sitting on the edge of the plateau, watching the sun rise. Behind her, Tommy was curled in a blanket they'd found, Katherine and Jason having migrated towards one another in their sleep and cocooned together like peas in a pod under another pair of blankets. A fourth blanket - unused and untouched - sat apart from where they slept and was a clear indication of where Kimberly had spent her night.

Using her time wisely, she considered everything Kat had told her about the alternate reality and its Jason. Guilt gnawed at her by the time the sky began to light up with the glorious rays from the sun; she wondered if she was selfish in keeping Jason beside her. Yes, she needed him - of everyone on the planet she trusted him alone - but Kat needed him too. Katherine, who'd searched for ten years for the man she loved like no other.

The thought was as humbling as it was guilty. The Katherine Kimberly remembered from her own reality would never have considered going to those lengths for Jason. And with that thought, brought about another more disturbing one; what had happened to this reality's Katherine?

A sudden crunch of gravel behind her was the only warning she was no longer alone.

"Feeling better?"

Her muscles had tensed with the intrusion, but slowly began to relax with the sound of his voice. "Should I be?"

Jason shrugged, easing into a crouch beside her. "You got quite a bit off your chest last night, I figure it might have helped."

"Nothing helps, Jase." She'd meant the words to come out bitter, but instead they were resigned. "Not even tearing strips off Tommy."

"Not even a little?" Wheedling carefully, he nudged her shoulder gently. "Not even a little, tiny, itty bitty bit?

A half smile tugged at her lips with Jason's childish remark and tone. "Alright, maybe a smidgen - telling him off after all these years felt good. _Real _good."

"_But_?"

Stubbornly, Kimberly refused to respond to the gentle prompt and continued to stare into the sunrise. Despite how good it had felt to grasp that tiny bit of control, it had hurt too. Hurting Tommy wasn't an easy thing to do and while she didn't look forward to it, winning against him was like an addiction. She'd had a taste and she already craved more, and it made her wonder if she was no better than Zedd because of it. The addiction to inflict hurt and pain onto someone else, especially someone so close to her, had she learned that from Zedd?

A shudder ripped through her torso and Jason's arm slid about her shoulders. "Guess I shouldn't have asked, huh??

"When does that ever stop you?" Slanting a look at him, she nodded back to the camp. "You two were awful cozy."

"Instinct," but Jason couldn't meet her gaze. The new surroundings which included Katherine made the guilt continue to rush over him. For as long as he could remember, it had been just Kim and him; and for him to have found another in Katherine, it was almost unthinkable. At times like these, when the world seemed so dark, did he deserve to have any feelings of warmth? "I guess we were both colder than we thought."

"And you explain he of the multi-colors being off by himself by...?"

"The guy's a veritable furnace," Jason's tone was dry. "Besides, he needed some space after last night."

Kimberly's half smile faded and died. "Didn't we all?"

Silence descended for a long moment before Jason awkwardly broke it. "So... what are you going to do?"

"I'm going home." It was clear what she wanted, but the hesitance in her voice was questionable.

"Even if it-"

The flap of wings interrupted Jason's question and both of their gazes were drawn to the owl which had appeared and was alighting on the cliff's edge nearby. In the blink of an eye, Dulcea stood before them once more. "Home indeed, Crane - and if I told you the home you wish to return to will cease to exist should you refuse this quest?"

Refusing the quest would undoubtedly destroy the world? The Pink Powers were never one to be dealt with lightly, like the rest of the powers, but why now of all times did the fate of the world have to rest in her hands? Kimberly had followed through with her duty, a duty that stretched over the past ten years, warning all current and former Power Rangers of the immediate threat looming out to destroy them. She had been through enough; what more would she have to do to save the Earth now? What else could they possible expect her to do?

She'd lost her idealism, her faith, her innocence - all things that had been key to her ability to be a Ranger. She had nothing more to give.

"You've got to be kidding me. I've done my job - the rangers can still defeat..._him_ without a Pink Ranger."

Dulcea looked more amused than alarmed. "Indeed? And how does the body function without it's heart? You would doom your friends to failure for your own selfish fears?"

"Don't talk about my selfish fears! You have no idea what I went through. You purposely showed my darkest reality...my emotions, putting them into full screen view for everyone." Kimberly glanced down at her uncomfortable crossed arms - an defensive reaction. "And I was never the heart of or for anyone. I was a part of a team, not the center of it."

The Ninjetti Warrior Queen remained silent, as if judging her and her words.

"I've never let my friends down - but I can't do this, Dulcea." Tears found their way back to her trembling eyes and she bit her bottom lip trying to stop them as her voice took on an almost desperate edge. "Can't you see that?"

"Do you truly wish to know what I see Crane?" Looking at Kimberly intently, Dulcea stepped closer, her expression stern. "Choose your answer carefully, for I will not lie to you or spare your feelings as your companions have chosen to do; I will not coddle you, nor will I condone the others to do so. Your answer - yes or no?"

"Dulcea, I don't think..."

Placing a hand up to silence Jason's comment, Kimberly stepped forward and wiped the trembling tear that found it's way down her cheek. Silently sniffing her emotions away, she looked at Dulcea more determined than before - challenging her question. "No Jason, I want to hear what the _Ninjetti Queen_ has to say. After everything that's happened, I highly doubt it could be any worse. Tell me Dulcea, what _do_ you think you see."

The hesitant and unsure reply had turned stern and determined, almost mocking the Queen as Kimberly awaited the answer with more confidence than she had shown in years. This fake-confidence was driven by that same addiction that she experienced beforehand with Tommy. The challenge, the retort - the want to make Dulcea seem incompetent brought out that confidence.

"As you wish." Inclining her head, Dulcea's eyes met Kimberly's - and wouldn't let her look away with the force of her gaze. "I see a broken spirit, lacking in luster and confidence. Crippled by circumstance, sheltered by good intentions and afraid to fight for what is rightfully theirs. I see a shattered heart that has never mended; a bird with broken wings."

She paused for a moment to let the words seep into both Jason and Kimberly's consciousness, peripherally aware that Jason was staring at her in mute horror. Despite it, Dulcea continued. Her friends had tried to reach her and failed and the Crane needed to know that - without her cooperation - this entire endeavor would fail.

"I see two individuals trapped within the same flesh; one frozen in the moment of lost innocence, unable and unwilling to move beyond the traumatizing event. In the shadows I see another being smothered, slowly withering under the force of that terror as it is forced to be dormant - your will to fight lost and suppressed within self pity. The selfless child Zordon chose to be his Pink Ranger has been locked away, punished for her outlook. This is not who you are, but what you have chosen to become in an effort to protect yourself - when all you have done is transfer that responsibility to another for fear of being responsible yourself."

Jason seemed like he was ready to go into convulsions from her words, but Dulcea continued relentlessly, as if Kimberly were the only person before her, seemingly unaware that Katherine and Tommy were now wirness to her words.

"I see a Crane afraid to fly, terrified of reaching for what is rightfully hers - and I see that same Crane unwilling to share the skies with the Falcon for fear of stealing the wind beneath his winds and dragging him down with her. Lastly, I see that same flightless bird hiding behind the Wolverine, unaware that her wings have begun to heal and flight is no longer a distant dream but one she can reach out and grasp. Fear. Disillusionment. Dependency. These are the things I see."

Shocked was an understatement for Kimberly's reaction was to her mentor's response. The forcefulness of her comment holding nothing back but the deadly piercing truth, cutting straight into her inner core.

"You _what_?" Biting her lip once more, Kimberly held back further tears as the wind brushed back her hair and the cold sensation in her body furthered, her mind feeling like an open void that would never close. Confrontation and conflict had ceased the moment Jason helped her escape from the clutches of Lord Zedd. Not even Tommy had hit her so low. "You really think that?"

Jason moved in, as if to offer protection, but Dulcea turned a look on him that warned him off. If he went to Kimberly now, assisted her in any way, he'd be dealing with Dulcea _personally_... it was her way of warning him not to interfere.

Confident Jason had received her message she returned her stoic gaze to the dumbfounded Crane. "It is not what I think - it is what I see. You cannot hide from me, my Crane. Until you once again learn to stand on your own two feet, instead of leaning on the Wolverine, you will never be whole. He cannot heal you; he would rather coddle and protect you than allow you to feel the pain of your injuries. He is your shield from the world - a shield you will need to surrender if you wish to find yourself once more. Never have I seen anyone so lost as you. You and only you can move beyond his shadow to stand once again on your own."

"Tell me something I don't already know..." Kimberly never admitted it aloud, never wanted to, but she knew the moment she'd felt Zedd's hands against her, she would never be the same.

For so long she tried to remain numb, not feeling anything. Her heart ached more with each day, but she'd continued to force herself into other things, just to avoid her feelings. It's what gave her the initiative to embark on the original mission with Jason, warning the rangers. How could she reclaim what was already long lost? Turing her chin against her shoulder as her head tilted to look at Dulcea, the gaze still too powerful to penetrate, the words escaped before she could consciously stop them "I want to find myself... How do I know if I can even reclaim my spirit?"

"You cannot reclaim something that was never lost." Dulcea's tone had softened fractionally. "Perhaps it would be more accurate to infer you must reawaken the part of you that lies dormant - the part you leave hidden in the shadows. My intention in sharing your memories was not to inflict pain, but to begin the healing process. You had to be ready for them to know - even if you did not yet know it yourself - and without your unconscious cooperation, I would never have been able to show the others what you suffered. You are ready to move beyond it, but to do so you must release your protector and learn to fly once more where you belong."

Finally able to break the gaze, Kimberly saw Katherine beyond Jason - silently watching them, but Tommy was no where to be found. Not within her line of vision, anyway. "Is there...some reason my quest has to be tied to..." The words were difficult to say, her lips to burning with every utterance, but the mere thought of him struck her far worse. Saying his name was like acknowledging a part of her pain in of itself; thinking of him was reliving it. "Why do I have to go with... with Tommy?"

The question seemed to amuse Dulcea. "Your powers have always been intertwined. Once cannot be whole without the other; had you not noticed that you are the strength behind the mighty Falcon, Crane? You are afraid to let him fall, but without you he cannot fly at all."

"I should go with Kim."

"And leave your own partner to face her fears alone?" Dulcea laughed softly, shaking her head at Jason's insistance. "I think not."

"Kat's not a Ranger-"

"Not yet."

The statement would have been almost ominous coming from anyone but the Ninjetti Queen - but that didn't stop Tommy from stepping forward from his position behind Kim. He side-stepped her, avoiding her touch completely as he faced Dulcea with a dark expression on his face. "You can't just arbitrarily decide that Kat's going with Jason and I'm with Kim," no matter how much it was killing him to get her alone, Tommy didn't want to force the issue. She needed to come around in her own time and enforced isolation was not the answer. "Katherine shouldn't even be going on a quest - she's not one of the original six."

"Regretfully, I believe she will need the power for her own protection."

"What power?" Tommy waved his hand, as if to dismiss it as unimportant. "Regardless of what it is, you can't know that. Besides, Kim wants nothing to do with me!"

Keeping her head down, her gaze on the tips of her boots, her eyes were hidden by shadows from where she was standing and her arms remained motionless at her side. But it was the underlying pain in Tommy's words that spurred Kim into action, something about it striking a chord within her soul. Despite the fact she'd fought with him the night before, she never had any desire to see him hurt. "That's not... _exactly _true, Tommy."

The soft words were ones that not even Jason had heard in well over a decade. She couldn't look at him just yet, but the impact of her words was unmistakable. The utter _silence_ through the clearing was like a benediction as her soul seemed to slowly reopen, unfurling hesitantly as if uncertain of its reception. It was a step in the right direction, but one of many.

Unable to stand the silence, Kim turned her gaze to the Ninjetti Queen. "Is this how it's meant to be, Dulcea?" If it could not happen any other way, Kim would accept it. She felt the pain begin its slow release, and seeping out with every passing second as it burnt nerve endings that had long ago forgotten to feel. But refused to crawl back into her shell - it had taken so much just to get this far out.

Beyond the circle, Katherine made her way over, drawn by Jason but at the same time hoping that things were looking better for her friends. She smoothly laced her arms around Jason's stronger right and looked up at him. "Me, a Ranger?" She wondered if it would come with similar consequences as what happened to her other self, but fought off the thought and became quiet as Tommy spoke.

Before Dulcea could respond, Tommy rounded on Kimberly disbelievingly, his own actions driven by her words. "_Excuse me_? This from the woman who was calling me no better than Zedd last night?" Even as the words left his lips, he knew they were a bad idea. Kim wasn't trying to pick a fight with him, but he couldn't stop himself - it was as bad as Connor's 'speak-first-and-think-later' habit.

And, honestly, a part of him didn't believe her - not after the ugly things she'd said to him the night before.

The agony ripping through Kimberly's chest seemed fresh and almost natural, like a harbinger of things to come. She refused to look at him but knew his words were true; she couldn't face him, couldn't stand being near him - but maybe that was the point of the quest. The pain was something she hadn't experienced in some time, so numb had she forced herself to become as she'd allowed the shelter that was Jason to deflect anything that even remotely resembled hurt. Unable to address him, she did the next best thing. "Dulcea?"

"Do you remember Zordon's farewell to you as the Pink Ranger, Crane?"

Kimberly stood in her own thoughts for a moment, struggling to recall what exactly had been said... and a small warm smile graced her lips as the memory surfaced from somewhere deep within her. Her mentor and father figure, Zordon, had said words that had warmed her at the time, but not completely understood. It had been as if Zordon had known she was destined to resume the mantle of Power Ranger. Voice shaking, she repeated the memory. "He said... 'Someday when you return, you will be an even more effective...power ranger.' I didn't believe..."

"Correct. Do you still think I am mistaken? That Zordon himself was mistaken about your abilities?"

"Dulcea - you can't force her to go along with this."

"The choice is hers, Falcon; it has always been hers. It is simply not a choice you like. She can go on a quest with you and face her fears to save humanity, or she can return home and doom countless young women and the world to the fate she has already suffered."

"That's blackmail!" Tommy's tone was venemous."

"No, Falcon," Dulcea corrected him gently. "That is life. That is how it is; that is what will be."

The words echoing in her mind, Kimberly's conflicting emotions began to rise not only on her facial features but her thoughts as well. Would she be able to live up to them, to accomplish her duty as a better Power Ranger? If she didn't do this, Lord Zedd would destroy innocent women and more around the entire Universe searching for her. It was more than her obligation and duty - it was her responsibility. She had the opportunity to stop Zedd, and if she turned it down it would haunt her beyond death. Kimberly had only one option - one choice. It was now clear as day. The choice was not only right but it was the only one she would be able to live with.

"I'll go." Seeing their confused faces and postures, she rephrased her sentence giving the true perspective of her choice. "I choose to go on the spirit quest, to find the Crane - to find myself. To reclaim what I've lost."

"Even if it means being stuck with the man who embodies your fears?" Tommy's soft question was almost toneless but there was an underlying emotion that was difficult to comprehend.

"Bro - you're an idiot."

Katherine silently scolded Tommy with a look as she moved one of her hands to rest on Jason's chest. "I completely agree." She leaned her head on Jason's shoulder, her eyes looking away from Tommy back towards her fiancé.

"Jason..."

Seeing him look down at her, she lightly tugged on his arm to follow her. It wasn't their fight to witness, and Jason couldn't keep trying to intervene. A crystal materialized in Jason's hand, glowing a vibrant crimson color - indicating Dulcea sensed the time to leave as well. Their eyes meeting, their bodies turned into translucent red and orange lights as they were teleported to another location on the mysterious planet.

Completed oblivious to the fact that Jason had just been spirited away with Kathering, Kimberly faced off against Tommy for the second time in as many days.

Her scathing tone sliced through his heart in a way nothing else ever could. "One would think it would make those fears easier to overcome!"

The glare she leveled on him was eyes showing the same hate they had for Zedd; but they were also haunted from having seen Tommy die once already. Fear underlay it all; fear for herself, fear for him - the fear of losing him once more. Sure she was horrible to him, darn right evil with every word, but he was the one that provoked her, and in his provoking, he had unlocked the Kimberly that everyone knew and loved.

Tommy couldn't let it go. The devil in him that hurt from her rejections - both a long time past and recent - refused to let her off the hook. "Sure... just like screaming at me to stay away from you is good for your vocal chords." Shaking his head, he obviously didn't buy it and the agony in his voice was evident. "You don't trust me, Kim."

"I don't trust _anyone_!"

"Jason will be thrilled to know he's nobody."

"_Jason_ isn't just anyone," her eyes spat gold fire, pinning him with an accusatory look. "He's the one who saved me from Zedd, who took me away from that awful place. He's the only one who's stood by me through this nightmare that's become my life!"

"I would have stood by you, dammit!" Tommy returned angrily. "All you had to do was ask!"

"You've been dead to me for ten years, Tommy," Kimberly's words were embittered by her experienced. "_Ten years!_ Jason's the only person I've been able to trust and even now there are times when I know I can't trust him entierly - and I know that hurts him. He's the only family I have - the only person in my corner. He's the only one who cares what happens to me." Her tone was agonized and it told the true depth of her psycological wounds. "I may not trust you, Tommy, but this is bigger than my trust for you."

"So you think, Crane," Dulcea said softly, breaking into the conversation. "But you are mistaken. Without trust, the battle is lost. Until you can trust the Falcon... until you can trust _yourself_ once more, you will never be able to achieve that which you seek."

A dismayed look crossed Kimberly's features before she could stop it, the reality of the situation striking her like a fist to the chest and rendering her breathless. Trust. Everything revolved around trust - the trust she had for Tommy and the trust she had in her own abilities. Understanding dawned that her trust for Tommy was more critical than she initially thought.

It was what compelled her to speak, albiet slowly, as she struggled with the notion, mentally wrestling with it and her own fears. "Isn't that the point of the quest, Dulcea? I can't see any other way I can learn to trust him." She turned around afraid to show her emotions, specifically to Tommy. "Tommy was my perfect enemy in the beginning...he nearly destroyed the Power Rangers - but once we saved him, he was my best friend; more so than even Trini. I've never _not_ been able to trust him when it comes to battle, and even now that stands." Turning to face Tommy, she lifted her trembling gaze to his. "I may not be able to trust you completely Tommy, but when it comes to fighting, I'll always fight by your side - no matter what."

Dulcea made to answer Kimberly's question - about the point of the quest - but Tommy cut her off.

"You were never much of a liar Kim, and I see that hasn't changed." A ghost of a smile crossed his lips but it was mirthless. "Manipulation you're good at, but even now you can't lie to me."

Indignation and anger flashed across Kimberly's face as he continued.

"I let you down; I deserted you in the hardest battle of your life and failed to rescue you when you needed me most. You said it yourself - you blame me for your attack, and for not protecting you from it. You don't trust me with your life anymore - and after the last twenty four hours," had it really only been a day? It felt like years. "I don't know if you'll ever be able to again."

"Somebody _please _call the pity police. Poor poor Tommy, his ex-girlfriend can't seem to trust him for reasons beyond his comprehension!" There was scornful laughter in her voice that forced the came from the new rising confrontation - she rose to the challenge, relishing the idea of another fight even as a part of her shied from it.

Taking the first step - towards him - she chose to stand on her own two feet and fight back. "I'm not the liar Tommy - you are. You break promises like they mean nothing." She pointed at him and looked dericively towards the sky. "Get off your pedestal Tommy because I don't hold you that high anymore. I needed you to protect me - _no_, I needed you to stop pushing me further and further away! I wanted to stay, you were my dream Tommy, not this - not the competition. You forced the hands of fate and of course I blame you. I blame you for giving me up!"

"You blame _me_? Excuse me, but who broke up with whom - and didn't even have the decency to do it to my face?" He glared at her, refusing to back down and a part of him was secretly please she was fighting back even if she did go for the jugular. A night's rest had left him better equipped to deal with this type of confrontation. "You're the one who broke your promise Kim; even after that awful letter I'd still have been there for you. But you didn't call, you didn't write - it was like you dropped off the face of the planet and I was forced to move on. This isn't about that though - this isn't about me, it's never _been_ about me. It's always been about you. Your dreams; your choices; I didn't push you away, you chose to leave. You could have said no, but instead you disappeared without as much as a second thought!"

The temptation to reach for her was strong, but something in her aggressive posture warned him she wasn't ready for physical confrontation no matter how much she seemed to be. He settled for curling his fingers inwards and clenching his fists tightly at his sides. "All I ever wanted was to give you the chance to follow your dream - how was I to know you really didn't want to go to Florida when that was all you ever talked about? I didn't read minds then and I sure as hell don't read them now!"

"You could have asked!"

"I did; _you're_ the one who insisted you wanted to leave!"

Shaking with the force of her emotions, her eyes began to fill with moisture faster than they could create and the droplets fell like rain drops from clouds against Kimberly's pale and weary face. "You..." A cry came from her throat and she brought her arms around herself trying to regain her composure but it didn't work. Her shoulders quaked with each passing tear. "I...I was _raped_! He...you..."

This was one of the hardest things she had ever come across since it had happened. Actually admitting it had happened. "He touched me like you would have - for weeks... he continued to drain my life and my friends, still showing me _your _face. I watched you die, Tommy! I was..I was a ... I'd never been with anyone and he took that away from me - stole it! - in front of my best friends."

"He had everything about you down to the core...even...your r-ring." Mentioning it made her cradle her hand to her chest, daring only to look down at it, but not really seeing it. "You were suppose to be there for me. You never even called...you never even wrote; you took my letter and didn't even bother questioning it. Tommy you were suppose to protect me, to love me, but all you did was find the perfect opening to move on!" Her legs failed her and she dropped to her knees, hiding her tears now as her long wavy hair covered her face, her hand shaking as they dropped to the ground and clutched at the sod. _"You were never there!"_

Tommy felt like a heel. Like the lowest of the low; a belly crawling, swamp living, filth ridden thing that didn't deserve to live in the sunlight - except in this case he'd been living in the darkness since her letter anyway and couldn't remember what it felt like to see the sun. That didn't change the fact he'd just made her cry.

"Kim…"

Everything within him was screaming at him to kneel, pull her into his arms like he'd used to, but he didn't know if she'd accept comfort from him; if she'd be able to stand his touch. Jason was nowhere to be seen and Tommy had a sneaky suspicion Dulcea had intended it that way. It made his chest hurt to think that she needed someone and the only someone around was him - and he didn't dare touch her for fear of her reaction.

The anger drained out of him. "I... I thought you were happy; you said as much in your letter and... I did love you - enough to let you go. I loved you so much I only wanted you to be happy even if... if you weren't with me. God Kim!" His throat closed, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides as he fought the need to go to her.

Kimberly heard his words and they ringed in her head but only made her feel worse. Her knuckles turned white where they dug into the ground and her head came up, searching for the one person who hadn't yet failed her - only to come up with nothing.

Jason was gone.

Fear bore down on her with the realization, the need to retreat back in herself and closed up - to forget the progress she had made - becoming a burning need. She needed Jason! "Please..bring him back Dulcea..._I need him_. He's all I have..." She coughed out as her crying turned into trembling, the high pitch in her voice seeming thready and pathetic all at once. In front of Dulcea's implacable visage, Kimberly swallowed her pride and lifted her gaze to the Queen's. "I can't do this alone."

Dulcea was silent. Despite the plea turned her way, she had no intention of interfering when the Crane and Falcon were making such progress. For, despite the sharp words, it _was_ progress.

Tommy seemed oblivious to the fact that Dulcea was even around and surrendered to his need to try and comfort Kim - even though it had been his words that had made her cry. Crouching, he extended his hand hesitantly and then pulled back, leaving it open - palm up - on the ground between them. "You're not alone, Kim. You've never _been_ alone. If you'll let me, I'll be here for you just like I've always been."

Painfully and uncontrollably still coughing, Kimberly wrapped her arms about herself in a protective self-hug, tipping her head up to try and plea with Dulcea - again. She didn't appear to have heard Tommy. "I...I need Jason - _please_! Bring him back..."

The stoic mask Dulcea wore showed no signs of cracking, no pity. Jason's return was not an option.

Unable to hold the gaze of the Queen, Kimberly's gaze dropped to the ground once more, hiccuping loudly as her tears ran into her mouth. The hand resting by her caught her attention and she stared at it.

His palm was etched with familiar lines - lines she'd traced once upon a time with soft finger tips. They were strong hands; hands built for doing great deeds. And they had accomplished great deeds - few knew just how great. Slowly reached but pulled back - those hands hadn't been able to save _her_.

Her fingers curled back in on themselves as she looked up at their mentor - the woman who seemed hell bent on tormenting her. "I want to get this over with! I said I'll do my part in all of this and go on the quest. What more do you want?"

"You cannot count on his strength to see you through this trial, Crane," Dulcea told her, finally breaking her silence. "You will have only your own; that of the Falcon can support you, but it will not carry you. Only together can you take to the skies once more."

Kim wasn't sure how much more she could take before she gave up on the quest and doomed herself to be hunted for the rest of her life. "I..I could care less about flying in the skies! I've done everything you asked, I agreed to the quest, to save Earth; please can we just get this over with." Belatedly realizing that she was screaming at Dulcea, Kim looked slowly up at her whispered. "Please, Dulcea..."

"Escaping this conversation will only be momentary Crane - you will be alone with the Falcon until your quest succeeds." Seeming to take pity on the soon to be Pink Ranger, Dulcea released the last of the crystals, not at all surprised by Tommy's silence. He was a born Ranger and would do his duty - there was never any question of that. Kneeling beside Kimberly, Dulcea did something completely unexpected.

With gentle fingers, she brushed the tips over Kimberly's face, tilting the young woman's face up to meet her gaze. "This journey is one of understanding and healing. Pride and fear have no place here, my Crane; if you cannot put them aside, you will be incapable of completing your task." The faintest of smiles crossed Dulcea's lips. "Where you have always been the Falcon's strength, so too is he yours. I look forward to seeing you upon the completion of your quest, I suspect you will not be the same as you are now."

Blinding light engulfed them both before they could respond. With a smile, Dulcea stood and lifted her arms to the heavens, closing her eyes. Silently she wished them luck in the truest of the Power Ranger traditions; may the Power protect you my friends.


End file.
